SUGAR LAND, Texas – Pinch hitter Broc Parmer hit a two-run home run to lift the UTSA baseball team, 7-6, over Stephen F. Austin on Friday afternoon at the Sugar Land Classic at Constellation Field.
QUICK HITS
· Mason Lytle led the team as he went 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI.
· Four more Roadrunners recorded multi-hit games as Matt King, Caleb Hill, Lorenzo Morresi and Hector Rodriguez picked up two hits each.
· Ruger Riojas (2-0) earned his second win of the season as he held the Jack scoreless and struck out three batters in the final 2.2 innings.
· Freshman starter Robert Orloski recorded eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
Each team saw one runner aboard the bases in the first inning, but neither SFA or UTSA was able to score in the frame. The Jacks struck first as they opened up the second frame with two solo home runs to take the 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Roadrunners responded as a single each by James Taussig and Lytle scored two to tie the game up at 2-2.
UTSA took a 3-2 advantage in the third inning. Hill opened the inning with a single. Great baserunning advanced him to third with just one out. Morresi then launched a triple to right center as Hill came in to score and give the Roadrunners the lead.
Another home run by SFA in the top of the fourth knotted the game up again at 3-3. Once again, UTSA had a response in the bottom of the frame. A single by King drove in Lytle, before King came in to score on a triple by Hill and give the Roadrunners a 5-3 lead.
Orloski forced a 1-2-3 fifth inning, both opened and capped with a strikeout. An inning later, the Jacks took a 6-5 lead in the sixth – their first lead in four innings.
Down by a run in the seventh, the Roadrunners brought out all the stops – bringing in three pinch hitters in that frame alone. After Hill earned a four-pitch walk to open up the inning, Broc Parmer came in to pinch hit. On the very first pitch he saw, Parmer launched a two-run shot to left center to regain a 7-6 lead for UTSA.
Meanwhile, Riojas did his part on the mound as he prevented the Jacks from scoring for the final 2.2 innings. In the eighth, he forced a flyout and strikeout, before catcher Morresi caught a runner stealing to end the inning.
Riojas made fairly quick work of SFA in the ninth as well. He forced a flyout, popout and groundout to sit the Jacks down in order. UTSA battled back and forth with SFA in the game, coming out victorious, 7-6.
ON DECK
The Sugar Land Classic continues as the Roadrunners face the Creighton Bluejays at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Constellation Field.
-UTSA-