DENTON — Lizzy Fox kept No. 5 seed Marshall off the board for 6.2 innings, but Morgan Zerkle's bunt single in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Thundering Herd to a 1-0 victory against eighth-seeded UTSA in Wednesday's opening game of the Conference USA Tournament.
Fox scattered seven hits and struck out three, while Bailee Baldwin went 2-for-3 to help lead the Roadrunners (20-33), who saw their season come to an end. Stephanie Money also went 1-for-3, but UTSA left eight runners on base during the contest.
Meanwhile, Jordan Dixon tossed the shutout for the Thundering Herd (30-25), who will face No. 4 seed Louisiana Tech later this evening. The righty allowed three hits and five walks to go along with eight strikeouts to improve to 23-18.
UTSA coaxed a pair of walks to start the game, but Dixon wiggled out of the jam with a lineout double play and a strikeout.
The Thundering Herd also left runners in scoring position early in the contest as Fox and the Roadrunners defense kept the game scoreless.
With a runner on second in the bottom of the first, the sophomore picked up her first strikeout to end the threat. Marshall put a runner on third with just one out an inning later, but Angelica Niño caught a bunt that was popped up and threw back to the bag at third for a double play to close the frame.
Dixon kept UTSA hitless until the fifth, when the Roadrunners nearly took the lead on two occasions.
Jade Smith worked a leadoff walk before Kaley Pyles drove a pitch the opposite way to the warning track in right field on the 13th pitch of her at-bat, missing a two-run homer by a few feet.
With two outs in the inning, Money grounded a single up the middle to put a pair of runners on for Niño. Down in the count, 1-2, the junior ripped an offering down the line in right, but the ball landed just foul and Dixon eventually recorded the strikeout to end the threat.
After Fox worked around a two-out double in the bottom of the panel, UTSA again put the pressure on the Thundering Herd in the top of the sixth.
Baldwin started the frame with a bunt single and the freshman raced to second thanks to a throwing error. Following a strikeout, Kendall Burton was hit by a pitch and with two outs, Smith worked another walk to load the bases.
However, Dixon again escaped trouble with a strikeout to hold the game scoreless.
Dixon ended another scoring chance for UTSA in the top of the seventh with a strikeout and runners on first and second.
In the bottom of the inning, Fox got the leadoff batter to pop up before issuing a walk. After a single, Fox coaxed a grounder that put the winning run on third with two outs. Zerkle then laid down a bunt that stayed just fair in the batter's box and the speedster narrowly beat the throw to first as the winning run crossed the plate for the game's only run.
