HATTIESBURG, Miss. — UTSA notched 15 hits, including three home runs, and the Roadrunners raced past Middle Tennessee by a score of 9-7 on Wednesday morning in the opening game of the Conference USA Tournament.
The Roadrunners (33-23) came back from a 3-1 deficit, scoring in four consecutive innings, to jump to an 8-5 lead. UTSA scored four runs in the top of the fifth to take its first lead of the day.
Three straight one-out hits loaded the bases in the fifth and the initial run came across on Matt Hilston’s first hit of the day. A wild pitch from Blake Stansberry moved every one over 90 feet and scored Trent Bowles and, in the same at bat, Ben Brookover got an RBI when he scored Tyler Straub on the grounder. Hilston scored the final run of the inning on a single.
“I thought when we were down early, we took a couple 6-3 groundouts for RBIs, but in the four-run inning, we had some base hits," head coach Jason Marshall. "Two or three hoppers through the infield continued to keep the inning moving and, once we settled in and got the lead, we were able to get some full swings off. That’s great progression for an offense.”
In the sixth, both UTSA runs came via solo home runs.
Kevin Markham led off the inning with his seventh long ball of the year and Straub blasted a two-out shot to give the Roadrunners an 8-5 lead.
Middle Tennessee (30-26) scored twice in the fifth but gave up its third home run of the game in the eighth when Jesse Baker blasted a leadoff home run, his 15th of the season.
Brock Hartson (6-4) worked five innings for the win. The junior right-hander allowed five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Jeremy Filipek pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief and earned his team-leading fourth save.
Hartson’s counterpart, Johnathan Frebis (5-8) was charged with the loss. Frebis allowed four runs on six hits and issued three walks while striking out one.
All nine in the starting lineup notched at least one hit, as John Bormann matched a season-best of three, to go with one run scored.
UTSA will face No. 8 seed FIU at 7 p.m. on Thursday in a winner's bracket tilt (please note the time change). The Panthers (26-29) upset top-seeded Rice by a score of 6-5 after the Roadrunners' victory.