SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team secured their fourth series sweep of the season, beating Middle Tennessee, 5-4, on Sunday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.
QUICK HITS
- Starting pitcher Uli Quiroga earned his sixth win (6-1), pitching six innings of shutout ball with four strikeouts and no walks.
- Daniel Shafer struck out four Blue Raiders in two innings of work.
- Simon Miller notched his seventh save of the season, recording a strikeout in the final inning. After this outing, Miller sits at second in the NCAA in ERA (1.30), right behind Little Rock pitcher Jackson Wells' 1.27 ERA.
- Dalton Porter led the Roadrunners as he went 2-for-4 with a couple of RBI and a double.
- Taylor Smith extended his reached base streak to 29 games, while Matt King extended his to 13 games.
- The Roadrunners improved to a 28-8 overall record (12-2 in Conference USA play), while Middle Tennessee fell to an even 17-17 overall record (8-7 in C-USA action).
- In one-run games, UTSA improved to a 7-1 record.
- This series sweep is the Roadrunners' fourth this season and third against C-USA opponents.
- With Dallas Baptist also sweeping Florida Atlantic this weekend, both UTSA and the Patriots have 12 wins in conference play, although the Roadrunners have a better winning percentage (.857 compared to .800) due to playing one less game.
- The Roadrunners are undefeated in conference play at home with a 9-0 record.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
Striking first and early, the Roadrunners took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. A double by Leyton Barry brought home the speedy Antonio Valdez from first. A few batters later, Barry scored on a groundout by Matt King. Then, Porter singled to right field to drive in Shane Sirdashney and give UTSA a 4-0 lead.
Starter Quiroga forced two 1-2-3 innings while striking out three in the second and third frames. In the bottom of the third, UTSA added some insurance as a double by King brought home Tye Odom to extend the Roadrunners lead to 5-0.
The Roadrunners were kept off the board through the rest of the game as Middle Tennessee's Ollie Akens relieved their starter Eriq Swan and turned in a good outing. This left it up to UTSA's pitching staff to continue to hold the game down.
Quiroga held steady on the mound as he got through the sixth inning without a single run scored and allowed just five base runners.
Shafer came in to relieve Quiroga in the seventh and forced a three up and three down frame with two strikeouts. The junior allowed a couple runs to come home in the eighth but also fanned two batters.
With a 5-2 UTSA lead, Miller came in to close out the game for the Roadrunners in the ninth. He allowed a few runs to score but closed the game out with a groundout, leading UTSA to a 5-4 win over Middle Tennessee in the series finale.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners host Texas State on Tuesday for the second and final Battle of I-35 matchup of the season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on CUSA.tv at Roadrunner Field.
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