Brookover's walk-off single pushes UTSA past No. 22 Louisiana Tech, 4-3Brookover's walk-off single pushes UTSA past No. 22 Louisiana Tech, 4-3
Baseball

Brookover's walk-off single pushes UTSA past No. 22 Louisiana Tech, 4-3

SAN ANTONIO – Ben Brookover's RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning lifted UTSA to a 4-3 win over No. 22 Louisiana Tech on Saturday at Roadrunner Field.

Brookover, who was 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs, hit a groundball through the left side of the infield with the bases loaded that allowed Jonathan Tapia to trot home from third base and score the winning run.

The Roadrunners (16-12, 6-4 C-USA) won their first extra-inning game since defeating the Bulldogs (23-10, 8-3 C-USA), 5-4, on a walk-off hit in the 11th inning on May 1, 2016 in San Antonio.

Derek Craft (2-1) pitched four scoreless innings of relief to pick up the victory. The right-hander, who entered in the eighth inning, scattered three hits, walked one and struck out five.

Craft relieved Steven Dressler, who logged his sixth quality start of the season. The Burlington, Ontario, native worked into the eighth inning, allowed three runs on four hits and fanned three. Dressler was lifted from the game after the first two Louisiana Tech hitters reached base in the eighth.

After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, Craft gave up a bouncer on the right side of the infield that made it through to allow a pair of runners to cross the plate and tie the game, 3-3.

Two innings later, Joshua Lamb turned on a 1-1 pitch from left-hander Kyle Griffen and placed it into left-center, deep enough to allow him to reach second base. Tapia was hit by the first offering from Griffen and then Bryan Arias walked to load the bases. Trent Bowles hit a grounder to second and a play was made force out Lamb at the plate.

Brookover then stepped to the plate and grounded an 0-1 offering from Griffen through the left side, sending Tapia plateward to even the series.

Griffen (2-1) took the loss after allowing one run on two hits in 2.1 frames.

UTSA finished the contest with 13 hits.

Tapia also had three knocks, while Arias added a pair.

The Roadrunners took a 1-0 lead in the third inning as Brookover hit a liner that made it through the middle of the infield and allowed Arias to score from second base.

The Bulldogs pulled even in the next inning after Tanner Huddleston acquired the visitors' first hit against Dressler, an RBI double.

UTSA picked up solo tallies in both the fifth and sixth innings to take a 3-1 advantage.

Brookover drove in his second run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the fifth, while Ryan Stacy scored on a double play in the sixth.

The series finale is scheduled to be played at 1 p.m. Sunday.