HATTIESBURG, Miss. — UTSA led through six innings, but it gave up late-inning runs to Middle Tennessee and the Blue Raiders ended the Roadrunners' season with a 5-4 comeback victory on Friday afternoon in an elimination game at the Conference USA Tournament.
Middle Tennessee (32-26) tied the score in the seventh on a bases-clearing double and eventually scored the go-ahead run in the ninth to eliminate UTSA (32-25) from the postseason event.
“Middle Tennessee has been resilient all year," head coach Jason Marshall said. "Two good competitors out there going back and forth, trading blows.
“I am proud of my team. We have had lots of ups and downs from the standpoint of injuries, but we’ve rolled with the punches and been great offensively in ballgames. The one or two things that may have held us back was the defensive side of the game and having someone to shut down the other team out of our bullpen throughout the course of the year. We did fine at times, but having an exclamation point in those two areas of the game would’ve helped us win a few more games and advance further in this tournament.”
The Roadrunners struck first against the Blue Raiders, who they were playing for the fifth time in the past two weeks, including the second time in the last three days. UTSA scored three runs in the second to take an early lead.
Seven Roadrunners stepped to the plate in the inning, which was led off by Trent Bowles’ walk. A single and wild pitch put Bowles and Tyler Straub in scoring position and the two scored on back-to-back ground outs.
Middle Tennessee threatened in the sixth by putting runners on second and third, but UTSA got the lead runner out at home. Hoever, the Blue Raiders finally broke through with a run-scoring single and their second run came home on a sacrifice fly.
The Blue Raiders tied the score in the next inning with another two runs and two innings later scored the eventual winning run.
In the Roadrunners’ final inning, Straub led off the stanza with a single and moved over on Matt Hilston’s sac bunt. An error by the second baseman allowed for Ben Brookover to reach first, but Geonte Jackson grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Logan Onda was charged with the loss in his 1.1 innings of work. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits.
Garrett Ring earned the win in over four innings of work. He held UTSA scoreless on two hits and a walk while recording one strikeout.
Straub and Skyler Valentine combined for half the team’s eight hits with two apiece.