SAN ANTONIO — Vivian Tijerina set a career high with four hits, including her 12th home run of the season, but Caitlin Attfield’s two-run homer in the top of the seventh lifted visiting UAB to a 5-3 victory at UTSA on Sunday at Roadrunner Field.
Tijerina went a perfect 4-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Roadrunners (24-30, 10-14 C-USA), who saw their season come to an end. UTSA pounded out 14 hits in the contest, including a 3-for-4 effort from senior Darian Blake.
Meanwhile, Attfield’s three hits paced the Blazers (31-24, 15-8 C-USA), while Kristen McGrath and Mary Warren each hit home runs.
UTSA got on the board first in the bottom of the third on Tijerina’s run-scoring double to right center. Taylor Oberg hit a one-out infield single and went to third on Blake’s hit up the middle. Tijerina’s shot to the gap plated the freshman and lifted the home squad to a 1-0 lead.
UAB claimed its first lead of the day an inning later, when Warren hit a two-run homer to center.
The Roadrunners tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on senior Siera Sproul’s pinch-hit single through the left side that scored Angelica Niño. UTSA then regained the upper hand in the fifth on Tijerina’s solo homer to center in the fifth for a slim 3-2 lead.
However, the Blazers knotted the score in the sixth on McGrath’s solo homer and Attfield’s two-run blast in the seventh gave the visitors a 5-3 lead that it would not relinquish.
UTSA loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but reliever Leigh Streetman got a popup to end the game.
Streetman got the win and improved to 19-14 on the season after she allowed three hits with six strikeouts in 2.2 frames, while Nicole Merrill was saddled with the loss. The freshman allowed two runs on two hits with four punchouts in the final two innings.