HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall swept a doubleheader from UTSA by scores of 5-1 and 10-4 on Saturday afternoon in the Conference USA opener for both squads at Dot Hicks Field.
Bailee Baldwin and Celeste Loughman each finished game two 3-of-4 with an RBI to pace the Roadrunners (9-14, 0-2 C-USA), who also got a homer from Kaley Pyles in game one.
In the opener, Jordan Dixon picked up her league-leading 11th victory with 14 strikeouts as the Thundering Herd (16-4, 2-0 C-USA) claimed the 5-1 win.
Marshall got on the board with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first off the bat of Briana Daiss and the margin stayed at 3-0 until the top of the fifth.
With one out in the fifth, Pyles launched a homer over the wall in center field for the Roadrunners' first hit of the contest. The blast was the first for the senior this spring and her sixth at UTSA.
However, the Thundering Herd responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame and Dixon kept the Roadrunners off the board the rest of the way to register the 5-1 victory.
In the second game of the day, Marshall jumped out to a 6-0 lead with two runs in the first and four in the second before UTSA sliced the deficit in half in the top of the third.
Angelica Niño coaxed a one-out walk to get the rally started and she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Lindsey Stewart. The Roadrunners then strung together three consecutive two-out hits to make it 6-3.
Loughman and Rylee Rodriguez hit back-to-back doubles that each brought home runners. Baldwin capped the scoring with a single to left field and Rodriguez touched home following a throwing error.
The Thundering Herd got two more in the fourth before Baldwin hit another RBI single in the fifth to make it 8-4. But Marshall tacked on a run in the bottom of the frame and added another in the sixth for the 10-4 final.
The teams will return to the diamond at 11 a.m. (CT) on Sunday to close the three-game set.
