HOUSTON – UTSA dropped the series finale to Rice Sunday afternoon, as the Owls scored 16 runs on 17 hits.
The Roadrunners (24-12, 9-6 C-USA) dropped their second game in the month of April on Easter Sunday, as Rice jumped out to an early lead and kept the pressure on. The Owls capped off their Sunday performance with a seven-run eighth inning to put the game out of reach.
Seven different Roadrunners tallied hits on the day. Matt King led the team in RBI, as the freshman had an RBI double in the top of the eighth inning. Ian Bailey drew two walks on the day to go with his double. Josh Killeen was the other Roadrunner to nab an extra-base hit, as the backstop had a double to pair with King and Bailey.
UTSA had nine different pitchers on the mound during Sunday's outing. Sunday starter Braden Davis (2-2) manned the first two innings and allowed five runs (3 unearned) on four hits to go along with two strikeouts. Daniel Garza entered in the third inning for UTSA. Garza allowed two hits on five hits before being replaced with Fischer Kingsbery in the fourth. Kingsbery threw 1.2 hitless/scoreless innings and recorded two strikeouts during his time on the mound. Grant Miller took the mound for the final out of the fifth. Miller retired the lone batter he faced. John Chomko was called upon for the start of the sixth inning. Chomko allowed two runs on three hits before being pulled in the bottom of the seventh. Simon Miller stepped in to relieve him. With no outs in the seventh, Miller worked through the inning and allowed two runs on two hits. After allowing two on in the eighth, Abraham DeLeon entered for Miller. DeLeon gave up three runs on one hit before Coach Hallmark called upon Drake Smith. Smith entered with no outs in the eighth and would close out the inning. Smith would end up allowing two more runs on two hits.
Rice (11-26, 4-11 C-USA) starter Thomas Burbank pitched for 3.1 innings on Sunday as he allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits. Burbank also walked three batters and struck out two. Relieving Burbank in the fourth inning was Brandon Deskins. Deskins (2-5) pitched really well on the afternoon, as he went for 3.2 innings and allowed just one hit and struck out three. Matthew Linskey manned the eighth inning for the Owls. Linskey had a rough go, as he gave up four runs on four hits. Rice swapped pitchers for the ninth inning, opting to go with David Shaw. Shaw pitched the entire ninth inning and kept the Roadrunners in check. He didn't allow a hit or a run and didn't issue a walk while striking out one Roadrunner.
The Owls got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning. Their leadoff man, Jack Riedel, reached on an error and the next batter, Guy Garibay singled to centerfield. UTSA had trouble fielding Garibay's single however and Riedel was able to score from first while Garibay advanced to second. Garibay then advanced to third thanks to a wild pitch. The next batter was leftfielder Austin Bulman who singled to right, bringing home Garibay. The next two Rice at-bats resulted in outs with Bulman now on third. The next batter was Pierce Gallo who had an infield single and was able to advance to second off of another UTSA error. Bolman was able to come home thanks to Gallo's at-bat and after one Rice led 3-0.
UTSA was able to score two in the top of the second. Shane Sirdashney was hit by a pitch to get a Roadrunner on. Next up, Ian Bailey doubled down the leftfield line to put runners on first and second. With two on and one out, Josh Killeen grounded into a fielder's choice and was out at first, however, Sirdashney scored from third to give Killeen an RBI. With Bailey advancing to third on Killeen's groundout, he was able to score from third after a Rice wild pitch. After the top of the second was done, UTSA trailed 3-2.
Rice was able to extend its lead in the bottom of the third. Aaron Smigelski drew a walk to start the inning and Nathan Becker doubled to put Owls on second and third. With two on and no outs, Gallo stepped back up to the plate and hit into a fielder's choice. However, UTSA had trouble securing the out as both Smigelski and Becker scored. The two runs scored by the Owls in the bottom of the third pushed their lead back up to three as they led 5-2.
The Roadrunners put one on the board in the top of the fourth. Bailey drew a walk to start the inning off for UTSA. Killeen followed that up with a double to leftfield. The leftfielder had trouble fielding the ball cleanly though and Bailey was able to score because of it.
The Owls were able to produce more runs in the bottom of the frame. They started the inning off with back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. With the bases loaded, Becker drew another walk to force home a run. With the bases still loaded and no outs, Gallo had an infield single that advanced everyone, putting another run on the board. Rice would be unable to capitalize any further, only scoring two in its time at the plate. At the end of the inning, the score read 7-3 in favor of Rice.
Rice tacked on another run in the sixth, as it got a leadoff double from Gallo down the leftfield line. Gallo was able to move to third thanks to an Owl sacrifice bunt. The next at-bat was Justin Long who singled into rightfield which would score Gallo and make it an 8-3 ballgame.
The Owls were able to score one more in the seventh, as Bulman began the inning by drawing a walk. Bulman was able to advance to second off of a UTSA passed ball before scoring off of a Becker RBI single.
UTSA got a rally started in the top of the eighth. The Roadrunners would receive back-to-back singles from Ryan Flores and Sirdashney to start the inning. Next up was Bailey who drew a walk to load the bases. With one out and the bases loaded, Matt King cranked a double to left field which would plate both Flores and Sirdashney. With runners on second and third, Chase Keng grounded out to short which allowed Bailey to score. With King still on second, Jonathan Tapia smacked a single which would allow King to come across the plate. The Roadrunners would end up scoring four runs in the eighth to cut the Rice lead down to two as UTSA trailed 9-7.
Following the four-run top of the inning, Rice responded with a seven-run bottom of the frame. The Owls used four hits and four free passes (walks/HBP) to power the inning. The Owls would hold serve in the top of the ninth inning and win the game16-7.
Sunday Notes
Home Runs
UTSA: N/A
Rice: N/A
WP – Brandon Deskins (2-5): 3.2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
SV – N/A
LP – Braden Davis (2-2): 2.0 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
Up Next
UTSA will wrap up its eight-game road trip with a final stop in San Marcos to face the 19th-ranked Texas State Bobcats. The game is scheduled for Tuesday, April 19, will be played at Bobcat Ballpark and will begin at 6 p.m.
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