CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The UTSA baseball team earned a nail-biting 5-4 win in 12 innings against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday night at Chapman Field in Corpus Christi, Texas.
QUICK HITS
· Senior left fielder Caleb Hill had a monster 5-for-6 night with three runs. His five hits tied a program single-game record as the 17th time a Roadrunner has notched five hits in a game.
· The last time a Roadrunner achieved the feat was last season by Leyton Barry on March 11, 2023, also against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
· Sophomore Zach Royse turned in a quality start of 6.1 innings pitched with just one run allowed.
· Sophomore Ruger Riojas (4-0) earned his fourth win of the season, keeping the Islanders scoreless on just four hits in 3.1 innings of work.
· Senior Fischer Kingsbery earned his first save of the season, striking out one batter in the final inning.
· UTSA improved to an 8-7 record, while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fell to an 8-9 record.
· The Roadrunners improved their advantage to 44-27 in the all-time series record against the Islanders.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The first three innings went scoreless. The first inning went three up, three down on both sides. The Roadrunners got a runner aboard via a walk to Broc Parmer, but a double play shortly after and a flyout let the Islanders escape with no damage. In the bottom of the frame, Royse forced a groundout and two flyouts to face the minimum.
In the third, UTSA attempted to get things going as a walk and single put a couple runners on, but the team was unable to make anything of it. The Islanders also had a couple of runners aboard in the bottom of the inning, but the Roadrunners got out of the jam with no harm done.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi opened scoring in the bottom of the fourth as a couple singles gave the Islanders a 1-0 advantage. The score remained the same through the fifth frame as both teams went down in order.
Zane Spinn opened the top of the sixth with a double to left field, shifting momentum for the Roadrunners. Down in the count by 1-2, Hill broke through with a single up the middle to drive in Spinn and knot the score at 1-1.
An error by the Islanders’ pitcher allowed Hill to advance to third where he was 90 feet away from the lead. He did exactly that as Tye Odom then hit a sacrifice fly to left field to give the Roadrunners’ a 2-1 advantage.
The score stayed put until the top of the eighth. With runners on the corners, a balk by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s pitcher allowed Hill to score from third and extend UTSA’s lead to 3-1. The Islanders responded in the bottom of the frame as a two-RBI single knotted the score at 3-3.
The Islanders made their best attempt to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth, hitting three consecutive singles with two outs on the board. A flyout to left field allowed Riojas to escape the jam, sending the game to extra innings.
In the 10th inning, a couple singles by Hill and Mason Lytle gave the Roadrunners something to work with, but they were unable to score. In the bottom of the inning, Riojas forced a three up, three down frame with a strikeout and a couple of flyouts to right field.
A few Roadrunners got things going in the 11th with a single and a couple of fielder’s choices but nothing came of it. Riojas continued to dominate on the mound in the bottom of the frame, forcing a strikeout and two flyouts.
The action picked back up in the 12th inning. After a quick first out, Hill singled to second base on a 2-1 count. After that, Odom was hit by pitch which also put Hill in scoring position. A fielder’s choice allowed Lytle to reach base and Hill to score, breaking away from the tie to give UTSA a 4-3 lead. Parmer then hit a single to left center to drive in Lytle and extend the Roadrunners’ lead to 5-3.
Coming down to the final three outs, the Roadrunners turned to relief pitcher Kingsbery to close out the game. After allowing a single on the first pitch he threw, Kingsbery sat the second batter down with a first-pitch flyout. An error allowed the Islanders to put another runner aboard, now at first and second. Another flyout put two outs on the board.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s top hitter of the game in Sebastian Trinidad then stepped to the plate and Kingsbery first threw a ball. He then got Trinidad swinging on the next pitch, before pitching another ball. On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Trinidad got a hold of it to hit an RBI single which cut UTSA’s lead to 5-4.
Needing just one more out but having two runners on, Kingsbery battled through the pressure. The first two pitches he threw to Christian Smith-Johnson were called balls. He focused in as the next ball was fouled off. Another ball was thrown as Kingsbery fell behind in the count by 3-1. He didn’t let that phase him as Kingsbery got Smith-Johnson swinging on the next pitch.
With a full count on the scoreboard, Kingsbery sealed the deal as he got the Islander swinging once again and lifted UTSA to a 5-4 victory in the intense 12-inning Saturday night matchup against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners and Islanders will play the rubber match at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Chapman Field in Corpus Christi, Texas.
-UTSA-