SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA softball team swept a Conference USA doubleheader from FIU by scores of 5-4 and 1-0 on Saturday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.
With the two wins, the Roadrunners improved to 16-23 overall and 6-8 in league play. The Panthers fell to 31-10 and 7-4.
UTSA rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the final at-bat in the opener, capped by a bases-loaded error on the FIU shortstop that allowed Taylor Oberg to score from third with the winning run.
With the game knotted at 2-2 entering the seventh inning, FIU's Jessica Rivera blasted a two-run home run to left field to put the visitors on top.
Bailee Baldwin got things going in the bottom half with a one-out single through the right side of the infield. After Hailey Garza reached on a fielder's choice that moved Baldwin to second, Kaley Pyles was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Oberg then drilled a single into center field to pull UTSA to within 4-3.
With the bases still juiced, Angelica Nino lifted a ball into short left field that pushed home Garza with the tying run, but Pyles was forced out at third on the play for the second out of the frame. Lindsey Stewart, who was 3-for-4 in the game, then slapped a base hit through the left side of the infield to load the bases once again. Celeste Loughman bounced a hard grounder to the shortstop, who mishandled the ball and allowed the winning run to cross home plate.
FIU got on the board first on an RBI-single by Jocelin Soto in the third and the Panthers tacked on a run in the next inning on a double-steal attempt.
Rylee Rodriguez brought the home team to within 2-1 with her ninth home run of her freshman campaign, a solo shot to left in the bottom of the fourth.
Pyles then tied things up with a moon shot over the fence in left-center field in the fifth.
Nicole Merrill went the distance for UTSA in earning the win. The senior struck out eight and allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits to improve to 6-7 on the year.
Abby Summers gave up three runs on five hits in 6.1 innings for FIU in a no decision, while Megan Kugelmann allowed a pair of runs on two hits in one-third of an inning in falling to 11-3.
Baldwin slugged her sixth home run of the season in game two and that would be all the run support Lizzy Fox would need in a 1-0 victory for UTSA.
Fox scattered five hits and a pair of walks in a complete-game shutout to run her record to 10-12 on the season.
Meanwhile, Baldwin crushed her home run in the bottom of the second, one of her two hits in the game, to provide the only run of the contest.
FIU managed to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the top of the seventh after Soto was hit by a pitch. However, Oberg made a diving snag of a Tori Jones line drive to short right field and then doubled off Soto at first to end the game.
Shannon Saile struck out five and allowed just three hits, but issued five walks in the loss to fall to 10-7.
The series finale is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
