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Jeff Huehn/UTSA Athletics
Baseball

Late innings propels Black to win in UTSA baseball Fall World Series

SAN ANTONIO – Jonathan Tapia drove in a game-high three runs and Pepper Jones tossed four innings in relief to push the Black team to a 9-7 win over the Blue squad in the decisive third game of the UTSA baseball Fall World Series, played on Sunday at Roadrunner Field. 
 
After the teams split the first two games of the series, which was played as a near-finale to the fall practice season, the decisive rubber match was played on Sunday, which was held without fans at Roadrunner Field due to covid-19 protocols. Black posted an 11-5 win in the opener on Friday before Blue evened the series with a decisive win on Saturday. 
 
The series finale was tied heading into the top of the sixth inning, when the Black team plated two runs to take a 4-2 lead. Blue chipped away with a run in the bottom of the sixth, but Black added a two spot in the top of the seventh to take a 6-3 lead. Blue responded with a game-tying three-run inning in the seventh but saw Black plate a go-ahead tally in the eighth and the eventual decisive runs in a two-run frame in the ninth. Rock's one-out solo shot in the ninth cut the lead to 9-7 but the middle of the order was retired to conclude the three-game series. 

Black was led at the plate by a three-RBI game from Tapia, a junior out of San Antonio's O'Connor High School. He paced a lineup that also saw Joshua Lamb go 2-for-4, Leyton Barry go 2-for-3 and Josh Killeen add a 2-for-5 game. 
 
Jones, a junior righty out of Dallas by way of Navarro Junior College, worked a game-high four innings in relief of starter John Comko, who tossed two frames and allowed one earned run. Jones allowed one run before giving way to several relievers, including Austin Brewer. 
 
Junior outfielder Dylan Rock belted his second homer in the last two games with a ninth-inning blast for Blue. Blue also got a two-hit, two-RBI game from senior infielder Griffin Paxton, with Garrett Posten, a junior out of Alvin CC, driving in a pair. 
 
Blue used several pitchers in the series finale, including Ryan Ward, a product of Schertz, Texas, who worked 1.2 innings in a start. Shane Anderson tossed two shutout innings with three strikeouts, with Kyle Sonduck also working a shutout frame. 
 
In the top of the second, Black got the scoring started, getting a single from Killen with two outs, scoring after a bases-loaded walk from Tapia. 
 
Blue responded to take the lead in the second, getting Chase Keng on base to open the frame, scoring after a Posten single. After a Nick Thornquist double, Preston Baumgartner, a 6-foot-4 outfielder out of Midland CC, hung a sacrifice fly to score Posten. 
 
In the fifth, Tapia's one-out double scored after a two-out RBI knock from Lamb, who homered in each of the first two games of the series. 
 
Black plated two in the sixth inning to take the lead, getting a pair on to open the frame, before Milan Walla forced home one with a walk and Tapia charted the RBI sacrifice. 
 
Blue scored one in the sixth, as Paxton led off with a single, scoring on an RBI groundout from Thornquist. 
 
Two runs scored in the seventh for Black, set up by a one-out single from Lamb, with Barry and Killen each driving home two-out runs with RBI singles. 
 
Blue rallied for a three-run seventh, highlighted by a two-run single from Paxton, and a bases-juiced walk from Posten.
 
Walla forced his way on with a hit by pitch to open the eighth, scoring on Sean Arnold's single with two outs. 
 
Lamb's leadoff single came around to score to give Black a two-run lead in the ninth and Austin Ochoa's run plated by way of a Tapia two-out single for a 9-6 margin entering the bottom of the ninth. 
 
Rock's one-out homer settled the scoring in the ninth inning. 
 
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