SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team kept its six-game winning streak alive with a 7-4 Battle of the Birds victory against crosstown rival UIW on Tuesday afternoon at Sullivan Field in San Antonio.
QUICK HITS
· Mason Lytle extended his hitting streak to 15 games, going 2-for-6 with a pair of RBI. This also marks his 12th consecutive multi-hit game, starting on March 16 against Northwestern.
· Three more Roadrunners had two-hit games, including Caleb Hill (one double, one RBI, one walk), Tye Odom (one run, three RBI, one walk) and Broc Parmer (two runs, one RBI, one walk)
· Braylon Owens (3-1) earned his third win of the season, pitching three innings of shutout ball.
· Ruger Riojas picked up his fifth save of the season, keeping the Cardinals to one run in the final two frames while striking out two.
· Southpaw Zach Longshore turned in his third consecutive scoreless outing, pitching one inning of shutout ball with a strikeout.
· Returning from injury, Isaiah Walker made his first appearance since Feb. 17 and Ryan Ward made his first appearance since March 12. Walker earned the start at second base.
· UTSA improved to a 17-12 overall record, while UIW now sits at a 15-12 record.
· The Roadrunners extended their advantage in the all-time series record against the Cardinals to 19-12, including 7-3 in away games.
· UTSA extended its winning streak to six games, starting March 24 against then- No.10 East Carolina.
· This was the first of two hometown showdown meetings the two teams will play this season. The next game will be at Roadrunner Field on May 14 at 6 p.m.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Cardinals got on the board first with a three-run first frame to take an early 3-0 lead. The second and third inning went scoreless, but things started to pick up in the third. The Roadrunners got three on the basepaths but were unable to advance past that.
UTSA carried on the momentum in the fourth as the team put together a big five-run frame to take a 5-3 lead. With two runners on and two outs, the Roadrunners got to work. Odom hit a double down the right field line to score UTSA’s first two runs of the game, before he came home to knot the score at 3-3 on Parmer’s single in the next at-bat.
After Hector Rodriguez followed that with a single that also advanced Parmer, the Cardinals opted for a pitching change. With the new pitcher in, Hill earned a four-pitch walk to load the bases. The American Athletic Conference Player of the Week in Mason Lytle then stepped up to the plate. He hit a single to right field to bring home Parmer and Rodriguez, giving UTSA the 5-3 advantage.
The Roadrunners tacked on another run (6-3) in the fifth frame as they opened it up with four consecutive singles. One-base hits by Matt King, James Taussig and Walker loaded the bases, before another single by Odom brought home the run.
UTSA had a few more solid base hits and remained patient at the plate to earn a few walks and hits by pitch but didn’t add on to the score during the sixth through eighth frames.
Meanwhile on the mound, the Roadrunners pitching staff of Fischer Kingsbery, Owens, Ward, Longshore and Riojas kept the Cardinals scoreless from the second through eighth innings. Kingsbery faced the minimum in the second, striking out the first batter before allowing a single and then eliminating the base runner on a double play.
Owens forced a quick 1-2-3 inning in the third with a couple of flyouts and a groundout. Ward pitched the sixth frame and struck out two in his first appearance in three weeks. Longshore recorded a three up, three down seventh inning, using a couple of groundouts and a strikeout.
Coming in from the bullpen with two runners on and no outs in the eighth, Riojas successfully shut down the Cardinals with a strikeout, flyout and popout.
UTSA added an insurance run to its lead in the top of the ninth as a two-out single through the right side by Hill brought home Parmer.
Despite allowing a run and getting into a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth, UTSA held on to take the 7-4 win over UIW.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners host the Charlotte 49ers on Friday through Sunday at Roadrunner Field. The series begins on Friday at 6 p.m., before a Saturday matchup at 2 p.m. The series concludes at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
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