SAN ANTONIO — UTSA snapped a four-game losing skid and evened up its weekend series with Charlotte on Saturday, as starter Nolan Trabanino matched a career-high with six strikeouts in a 3-1 victory.
Trabanino allowed no earned runs on six hits in six-plus innings of work to earn his seventh victory of the season for the Roadrunners (27-16, 12-8 C-USA).
The 49ers (13-26-1, 5-14 C-USA) plated the first run of the afternoon in the top of the first with a single to left by Brett Lang. Leadoff man Mikal Hill scored on the play, which was unearned following a fielding error by Horacio Correa III earlier in the frame.
UTSA answered in the bottom of the second inning when C.J. Pickering lined a two-out single to right field to score Jesse Baker from third. The ball got away from Lang, the Charlotte catcher, on the throw to the plate, which allowed Mitchell Matulia to score and give the Birds a 2-1 edge.
Baker scored for the second time in the bottom of the sixth inning on a single by Logan Kinder. The single went deep in the hole between the third baseman and shortstop where Hill misplayed it. Baker was able to score when the ball careened into short left.
Logan Onda entered from the bullpen in the seventh inning with a runner on first and induced a double play and three-pitch strikeout to end the threat before retiring the side in order in the eighth and ninth innings for his sixth save of the season.
The series will conclude with an 11:30 a.m. rubber match on Sunday.