CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In the most important game of the season to date, senior Karan Patel tossed a gem but freshman Shane Sirdashney may have made the defensive play of the year in UTSA's 4-3 victory over Charlotte Friday at Hayes Stadium.
Patel struck out a career-high 13 batters in 8.0 innings of work in the Roadrunners (25-27, 12-15 C-USA) win. He has fanned 102 hitters this season, becoming the first hurler in program history to reach the 100-strikeout plateau in a campaign. His 248-career punch outs rank fourth in school history, one behind Eric Montoya and 19 off Justin Burgess' mark of 267.
The 49ers (20-30-1, 10-17-1) put runners on first and second after Bradley Griggs – who relieved Patel to start the ninth - retired the first two men he faced. With one on Tommy Bullock benefited from a borderline call and worked a walk.
After Charlotte brought in a pinch runner for Dominick Cammarata at second, Todd Elwood served a ball into left for a single. Sirdashney - who replaced Ryan Stacy in left to begin the ninth - charged the soft liner and fired a one hopper off the turf to Roadrunners catcher Nick Thornquist, who collected the strike and tagged an incoming Carter Foster to end the game.
In the bottom of the second, the 49ers capitalized on an error and grabbed a 1-0 lead. They pushed the margin to 3-0 when Rafi Vasquez homered over the left field wall in the third. Patel settled in and retired 12 of the next 16 batters, not allowing a runner past second. During the middle frames, he sat down seven-in-a-row.
With one out in the top of the fourth, Chase Keng worked a walk and moved to third on a double off the left center field wall by Griffin Paxton. Jonathan Tapia laced a two-out double into the right field corner, scoring both runners and cutting the deficit to 3-2. Bryan Arias followed with a walk and both came in when Stacy smashed the teams' third double of the inning into left center for the eventual game-winning hit.
Stacy went 3 for 4 at the dish, while Dylan Rock, Thornquist, Paxton and Tapia each registered one.
First pitch of the middle game in the three-game series is 4 p.m. Friday.
- UTSA -
