SAN ANTONIO – Matt King had three hits and drove in four runs and Ian Bailey cranked his league-leading eighth homer of the year, leading UTSA baseball to a 13-3 win over Louisiana Tech in the series finale on Sunday at Roadrunner Field.
UTSA (12-7, 1-2 Conference USA) used a strong offensive output to post the win over the Bulldogs, who entered the game owning a No. 33 NCAA RPI after winning the first two games, both one-run comeback wins. The Roadrunners used four-run innings in the second and fourth and had single tallies in the third and seventh innings.
King, a freshman shortstop out of Kingwood, Texas, was 3-for-3 with four RBI, two doubles, a triple and a stolen base. Bailey belted his eighth homer of the year and second in the last two days, driving in a pair of runs and adding a double. UTSA also got two hits from Sammy Diaz – who stretched his hitting streak to 12 games – and three-hit, three-RBI game from Leyton Barry. Shane Sirdashney and Chase Keng each added hits, with Keng tripling for the eighth time in his career.
UTSA started freshman righty Braden Davis in his fourth career start and fifth outing. Davis, a 6-foot-3, 215-pounder out of Austin's Westlake High School, worked four full innings, allowing four hits and one unearned run, walking one and striking out three.
He exited to open the fifth inning with a 9-1 lead in favor of lefty Josh Salinas. Salinas issued a walk and allowed a two-run homer before giving way to Braylon Owens (1-1), who worked 1.2 shutout innings, allowing two hits and two walks, striking out three. Daniel Garza entered in a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and escaped, working 2.1 hitless innings with four strikeouts and two walks.
Louisiana Tech (14-6, 2-1 C-USA) starter Jarrett Whorff (1-3) worked 3.2 innings, allowing nine hits and nine runs, walking two and striking out one. Jackson Lancaster worked 2.2 innings before Tanner Knight took over in the seventh and Cade Hodges appeared in the eighth.
The Roadrunners will return to action on Tuesday, traveling to face Baylor at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, getting a leadoff runner on after a dropped pop up in the infield. After a pair of outs, Phillip Matulia singled into the gap to score Taylor Young.
UTSA answered in the bottom of the second inning, getting a leadoff infield single from Barry and Diaz followed after getting plunked by a pitch. Following a fly ball, Austin Ochoa loaded the bases with a five-pitch walk. King then lined a one-hop liner into centerfield, with the attempted dive from the defender allowing the ball to roll to the wall and score the trio of Roadrunners, with King earning a triple. Garrett Poston then scored King with a sacrifice fly to leftfield for a 4-1 UTSA lead.
Bailey stretched the lead in the bottom of the third inning, cranking a 2-0 offering out to leftfield for his eighth home run of the year, tops in the league.
The Roadrunners rallied in the fourth inning, plating four runs on four hits for a 9-1 lead. King doubled to open the frame and after a pair of outs, and a Ryan Flores hit by pitch, Bailey spanked a run-scoring double to the wall in leftfield. Barry then dropped a bloop double into shallow left-centerfield, scoring Flores and Bailey. Diaz plated Bailey with a run-scoring single into leftfield.
Keng led off the seventh inning with a triple into right-centerfield and scored after King's double into left, pushing the lead to 10-3.
UTSA added on in the eighth, getting Flores on via a fielding error and Bailey on with a walk. Barry then painted a double down the rightfield line, scoring Flores from second. Keng scored Bailey with a sacrifice fly to left. Barry ended the game by scoring on a wild pitch.
Saturday Notes
Home Runs
UTSA: Ian Bailey (8)
La Tech: Cole McConnell (4)
WP – Braylon Owens (1-1): 1.2 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts
SV – N/A
LP – Jarret Whorff (0-1): 3.2 IP, 9 hits, 9 runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout
Up Next
UTSA will travel to Waco, Texas on Tuesday, March 22, to face off with the Baylor Bears of the Big 12 Conference for a midweek game. The game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
- UTSA -
