SAN ANTONIO – Missouri capitalized on a controversial ruling to outlast UTSA in a five-hour and 11 minute, 12 inning marathon at Roadrunner Field Tuesday.
At 11:14 p.m., the Tigers (16-9) escaped with a 12-11 victory, ending the longest game of the season – in time and innings played – for UTSA (11-14).
The back-and-forth affair in the first-ever meeting between the two programs seemed to be over in the bottom of the 11th-inning when Layton Barry crossed the plate, setting off a celebration for the home team.
With the bases loaded and one out, Griffin Paxton grounded to the shortstop, who flipped the ball to the second baseman covering the bag. Paxton, hustling out the batter's box, beat the throw from second to first and his teammates rushed the field.
While he was mobbed between first and second by his teammates, the first base umpire ruled the runner sliding into second obstructed the defender's opportunity to complete the double play. UTSA's run was taken off the board and the teams moved to the 12th.
In the next frame, Missouri's first two runners reached and reestablished the lead with a one-out sacrifice fly to shallow left.
The Roadrunners threatened in the bottom of the frame, putting the potential tying and winning run. On a full count and two outs, the runners took off on the pitch from Art Jovan, who earned his first save when he struck out the final batter of the night.
Down to its last strike, Missouri rallied with three runs in the ninth inning, The Tigers grabbed a two-run advantage in the 10th behind a RBI single and a wild pitch with two outs.
UTSA loaded the bases in their half of the frame and evened the game when Nick Thornquist grounded into a fielder's choice. The Roadrunners knotted the game at 11-11 with two outs, forcing the eleventh inning when a miscue by the Tigers' second-baseman allowed Griffin Paxton to score from second, behind Jonathan Tapia.
The Roadrunners got the scoring started with three runs without recording a hit in the bottom of the second. They worked three walks, capitalized on two hit batsman and a wild pitch to build a 3-0 lead that was short lived.
Missouri plated six runs on one hit - a grand slam from Chris Cornelius - to take a 6-3 lead in the top of the third. With one out, a passed ball on a strikeout, a hit-by-pitch followed by three base-on-balls made the score 3-2, before Cornelius stepped in.
Garrett Moon trimmed the deficit to 6-4 when he smacked a one-out RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the third inning, scoring Bryan Sturges, who drew a leadoff walk.
Arias led off the fourth with a triple midway up the wall in right field, scoring on a wild pitch. Dylan Rock drew a walk and Sturges followed by reaching on an error. Rock tied up the game on a wild pitch, which pushed Sturges to third with one out, who scored on a third wild pitch of the frame.
Moon launched his second homer of the year in the eighth inning, scoring Griffin Paxton, who reached on a two-out single.
UTSA returns to league action Friday when No. 27 Southern Miss visits Roadrunner Field. First pitch of the series opener is Friday at 6 p.m.
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