RUSTON, La. – The UTSA baseball team used a 5-3 win over Louisiana Tech on Friday night at J.C. Love Field to secure its 12th series victory of the season.
QUICK HITS
- For the third game in a row, Taylor Smith went yard, hitting two home runs in a 3-for-4 night to extend his reached-base streak to 12 games. T. Smith has 17 home runs on the season, just one why of the program record 18 (last: Jeff Juarez, 1999).
- Matt King had a 2-for-4 game with two RBI to reach in nine straight games.
- Josh Killeen extended his reached base streak to 18 games, while Antonio Valdez extended his to 14 games.
- Starting pitcher Ryan Ward earned his first win of the season (1-1), keeping the Bulldogs to just two runs on two hits and striking out one batter in five innings of work.
- Drake Smith earned his first save, striking out six batters in the final four frames.
- The Roadrunners improve to a 38-16 overall record (21-7 in C-USA action), while Louisiana Tech fell to 26-29 overall (14-15 in conference play).
- This marks the Roadrunners' 12th series victory this season and puts them just one win away from tying the program-record 39 wins.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
In an experience of déjà vu, T. Smith opened up scoring in the top of the first with a solo home run with one out on the board. Shortly after, Valdez followed that with a solo jack of his own to give UTSA an early 2-0 lead.
On the mound, Ward made quick work of the Bulldogs in the bottom of the first, using just 10 pitches to force a flyout, putout and groundout in a 1-2-3 frame.
In the bottom of the second, the Bulldogs got on the board and tied the game up at 2-2 with a two-RBI double.
After scoreless frames in the third and fourth, the Roadrunners broke the tie in the fifth as a single by King brought home T. Smith and Dalton Porter to put UTSA on top, 4-2.
D. Smith came in to relieve Ward in the sixth and put up a scoreless frame with a putout, flyout and strikeout. In the seventh frame, D. Smith struck out the side but a RBI double by the Bulldogs cut UTSA's lead to 4-3.
The eighth inning saw some more zeros on the board. D. Smith continued to dominate with a three-up, three-down frame, including a strikeout, groundout and flyout.
In the ninth frame, T. Smith sent another one flying for good measure, picking up his second solo home run of the game – his fourth game this season with multiple home runs and second straight. This extended UTSA's lead to 5-3.
D. Smith continued to work in the bottom of the inning, picking up his sixth strikeout of the game and securing the 5-3 win for UTSA over Louisiana Tech.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners and Bulldogs go head-to-head for the series finale on Saturday at 12 p.m. at J.C. Love Field in Ruston, La.
-UTSA-