LAS CRUCES, N.M. — UTSA racked up 15 hits, including four home runs, to down New Mexico State, 11-3, on Sunday afternoon for its first win of the 2017 season.
Randee Crawford went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers, the fourth multi-homer game of her career, to help pace the Roadrunners (1-2). Celeste Loughman added a pair of hits, including a big three-run homer to blow the game open in the top of the seventh, en route to a team-high four RBIs while fellow rookie Lindsey Stewart collected four hits in as many at-bats for the second consecutive game.
Stewart, who also went 4-for-4 in game two of Saturday's doubleheader, finished the series 9-for-11 (.818) with a triple, three runs scored and an RBI.
The squad's 15 hits against the Aggies (2-1) were its most since pounding out a season-high 17 in a 10-2 win against Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 28, 2016.
UTSA jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never trailed in the contest.
Stewart got the Roadrunners rolling with a single to start the game and she was able to trot home three batters later when Rylee Rodriguez crushed her first collegiate homer for a 2-0 advantage. Crawford made it back-to-back round-trippers for UTSA with the first of her two solo shots.
In the second, singles by Angelica Niño and Stewart and a passed ball put the pair in scoring position. Loughman picked up the first of her four RBIs with a sacrifice fly that pushed the lead to 4-0.
An inning later, the Roadrunners turned a New Mexico State error into an unearned run on an RBI grounder from Taylor Oberg for a 5-0 cushion.
The Aggies broke up the shutout in the bottom of the third on Kelsey Horton's solo homer. New Mexico State trimmed the UTSA lead with another run in the fifth to pull within 5-2, but the Roadrunners stamped out any hopes of a comeback with six runs in the top of the seventh.
In search of some insurance before the bottom of the seventh, Crawford delivered some extra breathing room with a one-out blast to left field for her second homer of the day and a 6-2 lead.
Kaley Pyles notched her second double of the contest before Madison Kinley and Niño both reached on errors that pushed two more runs across for an 8-2 advantage. Stewart then collected her fourth hit and Loughman capped a big day by the offense with a three-run homer to right.
The Aggies got one run back in the bottom of the seventh, but Lizzy Fox closed out the 11-3 victory. The junior allowed three runs in seven innings to even her record at 1-1 in the circle.
The Roadrunners will be back in action at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, when they will open play at the Getterman Classic in Waco against No. 21 Baylor (3-2).
