AUSTIN — Megan Low and Courtney Buchman each homered for UTSA, but Texas rallied for runs in the bottom of the seventh to take both ends of the doubleheader by scores of 2-1 and 3-2 on Tuesday evening at Red & Charline McCombs Field.
Nicole Merrill set a season high with 10 strikeouts in game two for the Roadrunners (21-11), while Low tied Randee Crawford for the team lead with her 10th homer of the season.
Meanwhile, Erica Wright struck out a career-best 13 and Mickenzi Krpec drove in two runs in the seventh to help lift the Longhorns (20-9) in the second contest.
Texas outlasted UTSA in the opener as it took a 2-1 victory on Lindsey Stephens’ RBI double down the right-field line in the Longhorns’ final at-bat.
The Roadrunners left runners on base in each of the first four innings as they could not get anything across against Smith. The Longhorns loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with a single, double and hit batter before Stephanie Wong broke the scoreless tie with an RBI groundout.
Smith struck out the first two batters of the fifth, but Low knotted the score with a solo homer out to left field.
The score remained tied until the bottom of the seventh, when Devon Tunning put down a bunt single and advanced to scoring position with a sacrifice to set the stage for Stephens’ game-winning hit.
Texas got a leadoff double from Devon Tunning in game two and she scored on a wild pitch to give the home squad an early 1-0 lead.
That would prove to be the only Longhorns hit until the sixth inning and Buchman’s two-run homer to left field in the top of the third lifted the Roadrunners to their first advantage of the day. The blast was the eighth for Buchman, who took a 1-2 pitch over the wall after Kendall Burton recorded the first hit of the game for UTSA with a bunt single.
Merrill did not allow another hit until Stephens’ infield single in the sixth and the sophomore worked out of a two-on, no-out jam to hold the slim lead.
However, Randel Leahy capped a 12-pitch at-bat with a single through the right side to start the seventh and an error put two runners in scoring position. Krpec then ended the game with a single up the middle to plate the winning runs.
UTSA will return to Conference USA action this weekend when it travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for a three-game series at Middle Tennessee (11-13, 1-8 C-USA). The teams will meet in a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday before a noon contest the following day.