MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The UTSA baseball team and Memphis evened the series in American Athletic Conference action as the Tigers took game two by 12-5 on Saturday afternoon at FedEx Park in Memphis, Tenn.
QUICK HITS
· James Taussig led the team as he went 2-for-2 with a home run, two runs and one RBI.
· Cooper Hrbacek and Anthony Giannette kept the Tigers scoreless on just two hits in three innings combined.
· UTSA fell to a 20-15 overall record (8-3 in AAC play), while Memphis improved to an 18-18 overall record (6-5 in conference action).
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Roadrunners put the first run on the board in the first frame as a single to left center by Matt King drove in Caleb Hill from third. The Tigers responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, knotting the score at 1-1.
UTSA quickly regained the lead as Taussig led off the second with a solo home run to put the Roadrunners back on top by 2-1. Memphis once again responded in the bottom of the inning, this time the Tigers put together a big five-run frame. Memphis took a 6-2 lead using a two-run double and three-run home run in the bottom of the second.
The Tigers added another run to their lead in the third. The Roadrunners added two runs in the top of the fourth on a leadoff home run by Broc Parmer and RBI fielder’s choice by Zane Spinn, chopping their deficit to 7-4.
Memphis tacked on another run in the bottom of the inning to extend their lead once again to 8-4. A two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth gave the Tigers a 10-4 advantage.
The Roadrunners didn’t give up as the bats got going again in the sixth. A hit by pitch and single put runners on the corners. Then, Ty Tilson was added to the lineup as a pinch hitter for Spinn and he delivered an RBI single through the right side to cut UTSA’s deficit to 10-5.
The Tigers added two more runs to take a 12-5 lead in the bottom of the frame and this would be the final time either team would score.
The seventh and eighth frames went scoreless. The Roadrunners loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, using two hits by pitch and one walk, but the runners were left stranded. Hrbacek forced a quick 1-2-3 frame to shut down the Tigers in the bottom of the inning.
In his first appearance of the season, Giannette forced a scoreless eighth inning using two groundouts and a popout.
The Roadrunners continued to fight back as two boarded the basepaths using a walk and hit by pitch, but UTSA was not able to keep up as the team fell to Memphis by 12-5 in game two of the series.
ON DECK
The series concludes with the rubber match on Sunday at 1 p.m. at FedEx Ballpark in Memphis, Tenn.
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