SAN ANTONIO – For the first time since 2014, UTSA baseball opened the season with five wins in six games with an 8-5 victory against Toledo at Wolff Stadium Friday.
With the tying run at the plate and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Palmer Wenzel coaxed a lazy fly ball to center for the second out. Facing the Rockets best hitter, Wenzel enticed Chris Myers to hit a grounder to Leyton Barry, who flipped the ball over to Bryan Sturges at first for the final out.
Sturges gave the Roadrunners (5-1) a 1-0 lead – the fourth time in six contests - with a two-out single, scoring Dylan Rock from second.
The Rockets (0-5) sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning and built a 4-1 edge against Slater Foust and the Roadrunners. The four runs are the most surrendered by Foust since allowing five against WKU April 27, 2019, spanning his previous five starts.
Foust settled in and retired 15 of the final 17 batters, including 11 in a row to conclude his day. After allowing four runs on four hits and two walks in the opening frame, Foust tossed five scoreless innings, giving up one hit and one walk.
Another two-out RBI inched the Roadrunners closer in the fifth. Griffin Paxton bounced a base knock back up the middle and once again Rock scored.
Stifled by Toledo's starting pitcher, Layne Schnitz-Paxton, through the first five frames, UTSA's offense came to life against the Rockets bullpen and fueling the comeback.
With two outs in the sixth, Jonathan Tapia was hit by pitch and came into score on Barry's first career home run. In the next inning, Paxton reached with a single and three pitches later, Sturges lofted a towering drive down the left-field line and clearing the wall inside the foul pole, propelling UTSA in front 6-4.
The Rockets threatened in both the eighth and ninth innings, cutting the deficit to 6-5 in the eighth. Nicky Winterstein launched an 0-1 pitch over UTSA's left fielder and off the wall for a pinch-hit triple to open the stanza. He scored on a ground out to second.
A miscue by Toledo's third baseman – the team's fifth in two games – facilitated two insurance runs for UTSA in the top of the ninth.
Sturges smoked a one-out single back up the middle, before swiping second and third base. With two outs, a grounder off the bat of Chase Keng slinked through the third-baseman's legs, plating Sturges. Joshua Lamb procured another unearned tally for the Roadrunners and expanding their advantage out to 8-5, needing just three outs to claim the two-game sweep.
The lead was precarious at best when Toledo registered back-to-back one out singles before Wenzel salted away the victory.
UP NEXT:
UTSA takes on hosts of the Irish Alamo Classic, Notre Dame, Saturday at Wolff Stadium. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
- UTSA -
