SAN ANTONIO – The No. 25 UTSA baseball team earned an exciting 9-8 walk-off win over HCU, overcoming an early six-run deficit and rallying for three runs with two outs in the ninth frame on Tuesday night at Roadrunner Field.
QUICK HITS
- Ryan Beaird (2-1) earned his second win of the season, shutting down the Huskies in the final 1.1 innings pitched with a strikeout.
- Caleb Hill led UTSA with a 3-for-4 outing with a run and two RBI.
- Three more Roadrunners had two-hit games, including Leyton Barry, Taylor Smith and Josh Killeen.
- Taylor Smith extended his reached base streak to 34 games.
- The Roadrunners improved to a 31-10 overall record, while Houston Christian fell to a 8-28 overall record.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Huskies took an early 3-0 lead as they scored three runs on two sacrifice flies and a single in the top of the first.
The second inning went scoreless as starting pitcher Fischer Kingsbery sat down the Huskies in order on a flyout and two strikeouts.
HCU extended its advantage to 6-0 with three more runs in the top of the third. In the bottom of the frame, the Roadrunners cut that advantage in half (6-3) as a Valdez RBI double and Killeen two-run home run got UTSA on the board.
The Roadrunner continued to chip away at their deficit as a single by Smith drove in another run and cut HCU's lead to 6-4.
After a scoreless fifth inning, the Huskies then extended their lead to 8-4 with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. That would be the last time HCU scored as Braylon Owens and Beaird combined to shut the Huskies out in the final three innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Roadrunners got back to work on chipping away at their deficit. A triple to left center by Hill drove in a pair of runs to make the score 8-6, still in favor of HCU.
After a scoreless eighth inning, it all came down to the final frame. Beaird successfully halted the Huskies as he forced two flyouts and a strikeout to put another zero on the board.
In the bottom of the ninth, Barry got things started with a triple on a 2-2 count. After a couple of outs, tensions began to build for the Roadrunners. This high-pressure situation didn't phase UTSA while HCU folded in the situation. Killeen followed it with a double on an 0-2 count to drive in Barry. After a four-pitch walk to Hill, Sammy Diaz hit a single to left field to drive in Killeen and tie the score up at 8-8.
Garrett Brooks worked a full count to earn a walk, loading the bases. King came up to bat and waited for the first pitch from HCU's Javan Smitherman. The first pitch was released and hit King on the elbow as a hit-by-pitch to the shortstop sent home Hill from third and completed the 9-8 comeback walk-off win for UTSA over HCU.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners head to Birmingham, Ala., to face UAB in a three-game conference series this Friday-Sunday.
-UTSA-