SAN ANTONIO — Chelsea Thomas hit a game-winning RBI double to cap a rally and lift UTSA to a 5-4 win over Virginia, but Tulsa took a 10-1 victory as the Roadrunners closed play in the UTSA Classic with a split on Sunday afternoon.
Zoe Bacon factored in the decision for both games as she came on in relief for 2.1 scoreless innings against the Cavaliers (3-7) before she allowed just two earned runs through five frames versus the Golden Hurricane (8-2). The freshman also did damage in the batter’s box as she picked up her first collegiate hit, a two-run homer, to aid the game one rally for the Roadrunners (5-5).
Fellow freshman Bailee Baldwin and junior Kaley Pyles also smashed their first homers in a UTSA uniform during the day, while Erica Sanchez tied a career-best with three hits in the opener.
Against starter Lizzy Fox, Virginia jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on Katie Park’s two-run shot to left center field, but Baldwin followed a Randee Crawford walk with a no-doubt blast of her own to right center in the bottom of the panel.
Park added a solo shot to start the fourth inning and Iyana Hughes’ homer in the fifth extended the lead to 4-2.
Following Hughes’ shot, Bacon entered the contest in the circle and she would go on to allow just one hit over the final 2.1 innings.
With just one plate appearance this season, a walk against Tulsa on Saturday night, Bacon came to the plate in the sixth inning after Tess Soefje was hit by a pitch and replaced by pinch-runner Angelica Niño. The Austin native worked the count to 3-1 before launching her two-run blast to right center that knotted the score 4-4.
After working a scoreless seventh, the Roadrunners put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the panel for the win.
Soefje again got things started by reaching via a hit-by-pitch and the senior moved to scoring position when Bacon worked the count full and coaxed a walk from Cavaliers reliever Erika Osherow. That set the stage for Thomas, who ripped the first pitch that she saw down the third base line to plate the winning run.
In the final game of the day, Pyles ripped her solo homer in the bottom of the second to give the home squad an early 1-0 lead.
However, the Roadrunners committed three errors that helped spur a four-run Golden Hurricane third inning and the visitors did not look back. Tulsa picked up four more runs in the fifth with the aid of an error and two more in the sixth. In all, just four of the team’s 10 runs were earned.
Trailing 10-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, UTSA could not get on the board to avoid the run-rule defeat.
The Roadrunners will return to the diamond next weekend when they travel to Oxford, Miss., for five games at the Ole Miss Classic.