WACO — Bryan Arias went for a career day at the plate and he was backed up by a hot UTSA offense and pitcher Steven Dressler to upset No. 21 Baylor by a score of 15-9 on Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.
The San Antonio product connected on 5-of-6 at the plate with a pair of home runs, four runs scored, seven RBIs and a double. Arias becomes the 15th player in program history to register five hits in a game and was last done by Jesse Baker in 2015.
UTSA (12-11) had three players tally four or more hits and outhit Baylor, 21-13. The Roadrunners 21 hits went for a season-high and the win over the national-ranked Bears marks the third win over a ranked opponent this season.
Kevin Markham and Ben Brookover join Arias with four hits each. Markham scored four runs and added a double and stolen base.
Meanwhile, southpaw Steven Dressler kept the Bears off the board in his five innings of work to earn the win. Dressler allowed three hits and struck out two batters.
The Roadrunners jumped out to an early 6-1 lead through the first two innings, including a two-run second on Arias's first two-RBI homer of the game.
Baylor starter Alex Phillips faced all nine Roadrunners in the opening stanza and scattered five hits to score four runs. Three straight hits produced the first run for UTSA after an Arias single up the middle scored Baker. Three batters later and bases loaded, C.J. Pickering hit a ball deep into left field for a sac fly and scored Markham. Back-to-back base hits scored the next two runs for the Roadrunners.
The Bears responded in the home half with a run after a wild pitch scored the runner on third. Dressler kept the Bears off the board through the next five innings before putting up a run in the eighth.
The Roadrunners went quietly in the next two innings before scoring at least one run in each of the last five innings.
In the fifth, Pickering scored Chris Estrada after he led off the inning on an infield single and moved over to second on a throwing error by the Bears shortstop.
Arias struck again in the sixth with his second home run of the game that sailed over the center field wall. After hitting only homer last season, he has already blasted seven this season.
A four-run seventh ensued for UTSA as the Roadrunners batted around and the Baylor bullpen faced nine or more batters for the second time of the game.
Baylor (18-7) stormed back in the final two innings combing for eight runs, including a seven-run ninth.
UTSA will return to Conference USA action this weekend when it travels to Louisiana Tech for a three-game series that will begin on Friday.
