SAN ANTONIO – Senior RHP Karan Patel spun another gem in a series opener with UTSA's offense erupting for 12 runs on 15 hits, including three home runs, for a 12-2 victory against No. 27 Southern Miss at Roadrunner Field Friday.
The Roadrunners moved into fifth place in Conference USA with a 4-3 league record and 12-14 overall, while the Golden Eagles dropped to 16-7 on the season and 6-1 in league action. With the win, UTSA snapped an eight-game winning streak by Southern Miss.
Ryan Stacy, Hunter Grimes and Chase Keng blasted a home run each, which is the first time UTSA has registered more than one in a game.
Grimes and Keng smashed their first home run of the season in a six-run fifth inning for the home side. Grimes opened the frame with a no-doubt blast to left, recording his first career hit.
Stacy, who was plunked by a pitch and stole second, scored on a two-out, two-strike base hit by Bryan Sturges. Back-to-back walks by Griffin Paxton and Garrett Moon filled the bags with Roadrunners, forcing a pitching change.
Southern Miss brought southpaw Sean Tweedy from the bullpen to face left-handed hitting Keng, who got the better of the matchup when he blasted the 1-1 offering over the wall in right center, opening up an 8-1 advantage.
Patel (2-3) record his fourth straight quality start, setting career highs with 7.2 innings and nine strikeouts, issuing two walks and allowing just two hits. He retired 13 in a row before surrendering a two-out walk in the eighth. Jake Harrison was called on from the bullpen and Patel exited the contest to a rousing standing ovation from the home crowd and congratulatory high-fives from his teammates. Harrison recorded the final four outs of the game.
Patel allowed just a solo homer in the third inning and a two-out pop fly into left center fell safely to the ground in right center, when both outfielders appeared to lose it in the lights.
Stacy, who set a new career best for hits in a game, went 4-4 and fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. He opened the scoring with his second long ball of the season when he crushed a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right with one out in the first. Stacy added singles in the third and sixth before finishing with a double in the seventh.
After the solo home run in the top of the third, UTSA answered in the bottom of the frame when Bryan Arias, Stacy and Dylan Rock opened the frame with singles.
Rock, who had his 24-game hitting streak come to an end Tuesday against Missouri, responded with a 2 for 5 night, with a run scored and driving in two.
With one out in the sixth, Arias worked a full-count base-on-balls and four-consecutive singles by Stacy, Rock, Sturges and Paxton plated three in the frame and built an 11-1 cushion.
UTSA capitalized on a two-out infield single by Grimes and a miscue by the visitors allowing Arias to reach and keep the next inning going. Stacy doubled, scoring Grimes and pushing the margin up to 12-1.
In the final at-bat for Southern Miss, two walks and a single accounted for a final run.
Sturges went 3 for 5 at the dish, driving in a run and scoring another. Rock, Grimes and Keng recorded two knocks each, as eight of the nine batters in the UTSA lineup registered at least one hit and scored at least one run.
The middle game of the contest begins at 2 p.m. Saturday. Junior RHP, Slater Foust is scheduled to begin on the hill for the Roadrunners and Southern Miss counters with senior LHP, Adam Jackson.
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