CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The UTSA baseball team dropped a midweek matchup against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 8-2, on Tuesday night at Chapman Field.
QUICK HITS
- Three Roadrunners had a team-high two hits apiece – Antonio Valdez, Sammy Diaz and Tye Odom.
- Braylon Owens and Drake Smith each pitched two innings of shutout ball, also fanning two batters each.
- Odom hit his first collegiate homerun, a solo shot for the Roadrunners' first run of the game in the fifth inning.
- Valdez has reached base in all 26 of the Roadrunners' games of the 2023 campaign.
- Three Corpus Christi area natives saw action in the game as Odom (Bishop HS) started at left field and Valdez (Ray HS) started at third base and Josh Salinas (Moody HS) made an appearance on the mound.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Islanders took an early 1-0 advantage with a run brought across the plate in the first inning.
The second inning went scoreless as starting pitcher Ryan Ward got himself out of a jam. With runners on first and third and one out, Ward sat down the final two batters with a strikeout and groundout to escape the inning unscathed.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi extended its lead to 5-0 as the Islanders scored four more in the bottom of the third.
The fourth inning saw another pair of zeros on the board. In the bottom of the frame, Owens faced four batters, striking out two and forcing a groundout to force a clean inning.
The Roadrunners put a number on the board in the fifth inning as a solo home run by Odom cut the Islanders' lead to 5-1. Owens continued to dominate in the bottom of the inning, facing the minimum and forcing two groundouts and a flyout.
UTSA continued to chip away in the top of the sixth as a sacrifice fly by Josh Killeen drove in Valdez and cut Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's lead to 5-2. The Islanders answered with three more runs in the bottom of the frame to jump out to an 8-2 advantage.
D. Smith came in to shut down the final few innings, facing the minimum of six batters. He struck out two and forced a groundout in the seventh, before forcing two more groundouts and a popout in the eight frame.
The Roadrunners were not able to keep up with the Islanders' pace as UTSA fell to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 8-2, in the fourth and final time the two teams face each other this season.
The Roadrunners fell to an 20-6 overall record (5-1 in Conference USA action), while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi improved to an even 13-13 overall record (1-2 in C-USA).
ON DECK
The Roadrunners return home to host a three-game conference series against WKU this Friday-Sunday. Friday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m., while Saturday is at 2 p.m. and Sunday is at 12:30 p.m. All three games will be available to stream on CUSA.tv with a subscription.
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