SAN ANTONIO – UTSA jumped on Charlotte early with three runs through the first two innings and held on for 4-3 victory to even the Conference USA series on Friday evening at Roadrunner Field.
The Roadrunners (30-22, 15-13 C-USA) took the early advantage as Ryan Stacy connected for his sixth homer of the season in the first inning.
UTSA added two tallies in the second, one on Joshua Lamb's RBI groundout and another on a wild pitch.
Jackson Mims hit the first of his two home runs on the night in the third inning to put the 49ers (31-21, 17-12 C-USA) on the board.
Aldo Buendia led off the fifth inning with his second double of the night. After moving to third base on a double play, Buendia pushed the lead to 4-1 on a wild pitch.
Charlotte picked up an unearned run in the sixth and Mims hit another solo shot in the eighth, but Derek Craft pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, picking up a pair of strikeouts, to notch his third save of the season.
Chance Kirby (6-4) received the victory while working on a pitch count. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits in three innings. Nathan Alexander followed Kirby and gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits with four strikeouts in 4.2 frames.
Kyrell Miller earned the final out of the eighth inning before Craft closed out the game.
UTSA hit the 30-win plateau for the fourth time under sixth-year head coach Jason Marshall.
The Roadrunners also honored their 10 seniors prior to Friday's contest. UTSA and Charlotte will close out the regular season Saturday at 10 a.m.
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