BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — UTSA rallied late in the game on Friday night at Nick Denes Field, but it fell short in a 7-5 loss at Western Kentucky.
Trailing 7-1 at the end of the sixth inning, the Roadrunners (14-22, 5-11 C-USA) rallied with three runs in the eighth and another in the ninth.
The tables turned when UTSA scored its three runs to make it 7-4 in favor of the home team. The Roadrunners knocked in all three runs off four hits.
Skyler Valentine led off the inning with a double deep in the left center gap and moved to third on Matt Hilston's single. Tyler Straub then doubled down the third base line, which scored Valentine for the first run of the inning. Mason George drove in the next two runs on his single to center field.
In the ninth, Ryan Stacy registered his first hit of the night when he doubled to deep in the left field corner. With one out, J.T. Gilmore doubled for his first knock of the game and scored Stacy. The Roadrunners would load the bases with two outs on Straub's single to right but a fly out to left would end the game.
Both teams combined for 23 hits with WKU (20-18, 7-9 C-USA) outhitting UTSA, 13-10.
Valentine and C.J. Pickering had multiple hits for the Roadrunners with two apiece, while George went 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.
Western Kentucky scored early in the first with both runs coming with two outs. Starter Austin King managed to keep the Roadrunners off the board through four straight innings and earned the win.
In the fifth frame, catcher's interference kept the inning alive for the Roadrunners and Valentine followed with a RBI double that scored Gilmore all the way from first to make it 3-1.
Before UTSA could score in the fifth, the Hilltoppers scored one run in the previous inning.
A three-run bottom of the fifth then pushed the lead to 6-1 off a two-run homer and run-scoring double.
WKU added another run in the sixth on a two-out RBI double and went scoreless in the seventh inning, the first time since the third.
Steven Kraft led the Hilltoppers with a 3-for-4 performance with two runs, a home run and a career-best four RBIs.
The weekend series will continue at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
