SAN ANTONIO — Kendall Burton went 3-for-4, but No. 20 Baylor scored four runs in the first inning and held off a late UTSA rally for a 6-5 win on Tuesday evening at Roadrunner Field.
Kaley Pyles and Tess Soefje each homered for the Roadrunners (11-18), who will return to Conference USA action this weekend. Lizzy Fox struck out three and allowed two runs in 6.2 innings of relief.
Meanwhile, Sarah Smith went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs to pace the Bears (24-6). In the circle, Kendall Potts picked up the win and moved to 9-0 with 3.1 frames of relief and staff ace Heather Stearns came in to toss the final 1.2 innings to earn her fourth save.
Baylor wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard with four runs on five hits and an error in the first inning.
After starter Chelsea Parker got the leadoff batter out, the Bears strung together four consecutive hits for a 2-0 lead. UTSA went to the bullpen for Fox, but Baylor got two more runs on an error and a sacrifice fly before the Roadrunners could get out of the inning.
However, the UTSA began to chip away at the deficit by scoring a run in each of the first three frames to pull within 4-3.
Pyles put the Roadrunners on the board with a solo homer the opposite way for her third round-tripper of the campaign before Soefje’s fifth blast of the spring cut the Baylor lead in half, 4-2, an inning later.
In the third, Jade Smith and Burton opened the panel with singles to chase Bears starter Gia Rodoni. Potts surrendered a single to Randee Crawford to load the bases with no outs, but UTSA could only get a run on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Chelsea Thomas.
Following the scoring in the first inning, Fox retired nine of the next 10 batters she faced to keep the home squad close.
However, Sarah Smith broke the scoreless streak for Baylor in the fifth with a two-run homer to center field that pushed the advantage to 6-3.
The Roadrunners mounted one more rally in the bottom of the sixth when Thomas and Angelica Niño both singled to start the inning. Soefje advanced pinch runner Lindsie Knowles with a deep fly out to right field and Knowles would touch home on a wild pitch from Kelsee Selman, Baylor’s third hurler of the night.
That brought Stearns from the bullpen to the circle and freshman Bailee Baldwin drilled an RBI single to center field off the Bears’ ace to pull within 6-5 and push the tying run to second. With two down, Burton knocked a single through the right side and UTSA would have knotted the score if not for a strike from right fielder Kyla Walker to cut down Erica Sanchez at the plate and end the rally.
The Roadrunners had one more chance in the bottom of the seventh, but Stearns shut down the home squad to preserve the 6-5 win and record her fourth save.
UTSA will return to Conference USA play this weekend with a three-game home set against Middle Tennessee (15-15, 2-4 C-USA). The series opens with a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Friday.