SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team recorded a season-high 19 hits to take down Tarleton, 21-4, in the Roadrunners-Texans rematch on Wednesday at Roadrunner Field.
QUICK HITS
· Freshman second baseman Diego Diaz led the team with a 4-for-6 performance, including two runs, two RBI and a double.
· Junior third baseman Matt King and sophomore outfielder Tye Odom each collected three hits, while Odom hit his first home run of the season and second of his career.
· Three more Roadrunners picked up two hits apiece, including Caleb Hill, Alexander Olivo and James Taussig.
· Fischer Kingsbery (1-1) earned his first win of the season, striking out four batters in 1.2 innings pitched.
· Kingsbery combined with Ulises Quiroga, Braylon Owens, Cooper Hrbacek and Drake Smith to keep the Texans scoreless through the final 7.2 innings.
· Owens also picked up four strikeouts in 1.1 innings of action.
· UTSA earned 10 season game highs, including 41 at-bats, 21 runs, 19 hits, 18 RBI, four home runs, 34 total bases, six walks, two sacrifice flies and 15 strikeouts.
· The Roadrunners’ 15 strikeouts were just two shy of tying the program record of 17 single-game strikeouts (2x, last: vs. FIU on April 23, 2022).
· UTSA improved to a 7-6 record, while Tarleton fell to a 9-5 record.
· The Roadrunners improved to a 5-3 advantage over the Texans in the all-time series.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
Starting pitcher Ryan Beaird started the game with a three-strikeout first frame, as he caught two Texans looking and got one swinging. In the bottom of the frame, Hill and Olivo hit back-to-back home runs to give UTSA an early 2-0 lead.
In the second frame, Tarleton’s bats woke up. An error and four singles proved to be costly as the Texans took a 4-2 lead. The Roadrunners broke loose with a seven-run inning in the bottom of the second. With two runners on and one out, Hill hit a single on an 0-2 count to drive in the first run. Next, Olivo was hit by pitch to load the bases. Mason Lytle then hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Odom and knot the score at 4-4.
That was followed by two straight singles by Broc Parmer and King, driving in two more runs to give UTSA a 6-4 lead. After a pitching change by Tarleton, Taussig stepped up to the plate and hit a monster home run to right center on the first pitch he saw, extending the Roadrunners’ advantage to 9-4.
In the top of the third, Kinsgbery dominated the mound as he struck out the side in order. In the bottom of the frame, the Roadrunners added another five runs to the board. With the bases loaded and two outs, Diaz hit a two-run double. Next, while Odom was at the plate, a wild pitch brought both Diaz and King home. Odom then hit a jack to left center to extend UTSA’s lead to 14-4.
Relieving Kingsbery, Quiroga entered the game in the fourth and forced a flyout, forceout and lineout to put another zero on the Texans’ side of the scoreboard. UTSA tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth on a Olivo RBI double and a Parmer one-run groundout.
In the fifth, Quiroga allowed one baserunner but got out of the inning with a couple of flyouts and a strikeout. On the other side of the frame, another three runs crossed the plate for UTSA with an RBI single by Zane Spinn, a bases-loaded hit by pitch to Olivo and a sacrifice fly by Lytle.
The sixth and seventh frames went scoreless on both sides. In the sixth, the Roadrunners allowed a couple baserunners but forced a groundout, flyout and strikeout to get out of the jam. In the seventh frame, Owens sat down the Texans in order with three swinging strikeouts.
Hrbacek took over on the mound in the eighth, recording a clean inning using two strikeouts and a groundout. A groundout by Diaz and double by Odom drove in two runs in the bottom of the frame to extend UTSA’s lead to 21-4.
Smith pitched the ninth inning and used just six pitches to force a lineout, groundout and strikeout, leading UTSA to a 21-4 win over Tarleton on Wednesday.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners travel to Corpus Christi, Texas, this weekend to play a three-game series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday through Sunday. The series opens on Friday with a 7 p.m. first pitch, before playing at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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