DENTON — UTSA clubbed five home runs as it split a doubleheader at North Texas with a 5-3 win in game one before the Mean Green scored a 3-2 win in the second contest on Saturday afternoon at Lovelace Stadium.
Megan Low went 3-for-6 with a pair of home runs and walks to lead the Roadrunners (27-13, 9-4 C-USA), who saw their four-game Conference USA winning streak come to an end with the game two loss. Jade Smith also recorded three hits, which included an RBI-triple, while Taylor Oberg homered twice in the opener.
UTSA hit four home runs in game one, including two from Oberg, to rally in the seventh for the 5-3 victory.
Low got the Roadrunners on the board first with a two-out solo blast to center field for her 12th round-tripper of the campaign.
However, the Mean Green (15-23, 7-9 C-USA) tied the score without a hit in the second and they grabbed a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth.
But Oberg got the UTSA rally started with the first of her two homers to start the fifth inning to trim the deficit to 3-2. Trailing heading to the final frame, Oberg struck again with a one-out solo blast to right-center field to tie the score.
Smith slapped an infield single to short and after a pop-up, Courtney Buchman drilled the go-ahead homer off the scoreboard in left-center field. The shot was Buchman’s ninth of the campaign and it gave UTSA a 5-3 lead that it would not relinquish.
Freeze yielded a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh, but followed with a pop-up and a pair of grounders to close out the victory. The senior improved to 8-3 after she allowed three runs on five hits with four walks and a pair of strikeouts.
In game two, the Roadrunners got on the board first when Smith’s two-out triple scored Madison Kinley, who reached after being hit by a pitch.
UTSA led 1-0 until North Texas put together a two-out rally of its own in the third. Roadrunners’ starter Kelsi Ott retired the first two hitters of the inning before back-to-back walks preceded a three-run homer to left from Shelbie Smith.
Those would be the only runs that Ott would surrender, but it would be just enough to edge out the Roadrunners. Following the blast, Ott retired nine of the final 10 batters that she faced to keep the score close.
Low took advantage and trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the fifth with her second homer of the day and 13th of the season.
The Roadrunners, who left nine runners on base, had one last chance in the top of the seventh. A one-out error allowed Low to reach base and brought the go-ahead run to the plate. After a pop-up, Randee Crawford put a charge into a 2-2 pitch from reliever Kenzie Grimes, but the ball was flagged down in left-center by Kat Strunk for the final out.
The series will conclude at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m., but was moved up due to the threat of rain.