SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team took the series opener, 10-6, over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night at Roadrunner Field.
Starting pitcher Luke Malone earned his first win of the season as he struck out eight in six innings pitched. Daniel Shafer earned his second save of the season, striking out a batter as he closed out the final inning. Shane Sirdashney and Leyton Barry led the Roadrunners as they both notched three hits. Sirdashney went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs and two walks. Barry went 3-for-5 with two runs, two RBI and a double. This is the Roadrunners' fourth straight game with a home run as Matt King and Antonio Valdez both launched one out of the park.
The Roadrunners scored first as King won an eight-pitch at-bat to launch a two-run homerun to left field. The Islander responded with one run across in the second inning to make the score 2-1, still in favor of UTSA. Five more runs were plated by the Roadrunners in the third inning to extend their lead to 7-2. After Sirdashney walked and Barry singled, Valdez launched his fifth home run of the season, a three-run jack to right center. A few batters later, a double by Taylor Smith drove in Josh Killeen and Sammy Diaz.
The fourth inning went scoreless but then Texas A&M-Corpus Christi began chipping away at UTSA's lead with three runs in the fifth inning, cutting the Roadrunners' advantage to 7-4. In the bottom of the frame, the first batter struck out swinging but then the next three batters singled to load the bases. With just one out, Barry doubled to drive in two. After this, Valdez reached on a fielder's choice as Sirdashney came in to score and extend UTSA's lead to 10-4.
In the seventh and eighth innings, Fischer Kingsbery came in to relieve Malone and sat down the Islanders in order. The Islanders scored a couple more runs in the ninth but it would not be enough, as UTSA took the series opener by 10-6 over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Roadrunners improve to an 12-3 record, while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi falls to a 7-7 record.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners and Islanders play game two of the series on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.
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