SAN ANTONIO — Jesse Baker blasted his second home run of the season, a grand slam, and that helped lead UTSA to a 10-5 victory against Stephen F. Austin on Friday night in this weekend's series opener at Roadrunner Field.
The Brenham native finished the night 3-for-5 with four RBIs, two runs scored and his second homer of the season. The senior has now amassed 27 career long balls and ties for sixth all-time in UTSA school history.
Baker's grand slam accounted for more than half the team's runs in the third inning and would be enough to hold the Roadrunners over as Stephen F. Austin held UTSA (2-3) scoreless in the last five innings of play.
Both teams scored early with a pair of runs in the opening frame but the Roadrunners took the one-run lead in the second inning after Chris Estrada crossed home plate on a wild pitch. The Lumberjacks evened the score in the top of the third but were unable to hold off the Roadrunners offense in the home half.
Skyler Valentine led off the inning and got the action started on a double up the middle. Trent Bowles took a base on hit-by-pitch and later scored on Bryan Arias's fielder's choice. On the next at-bat, Estrada singled to left field, which loaded the bases, and a wild pitch scored the next run for UTSA. A bases loaded walk for Ben Brookover scored the following run to make it 6-3 in favor of the Roadrunners and Baker drove in the final runs for the Roadrunners.
SFA scored lone runs in the sixth and ninth but wasn't enough as the 'Jacks dropped its fourth straight game of the season.
The top of the order for UTSA accounted for seven of the team's nine hits with Kevin Markham and Valentine each recording a pair of hits. All but one starter scored at least once for the Roadrunners.
Earning the win for UTSA was southpaw Karl Craigie as he pitched 2.2 innings in relief. Craigie allowed one run on two hits and struck out one and walked two.
His counterpart, Austin Hagy took the loss in 1.1 innings of work. Hagy allowed four runs on three hits and struck out one.
The weekend series will continue at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
