CLEARWATER, Fla. – The No. 2 seeded UTSA baseball team dropped a 12-5 decision to sixth-seeded Florida Atlantic in its second game of the American Athletic Conference Championship on Wednesday afternoon at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla., ending its tournament run and season.
QUICK HITS
· Caleb Hill and Diego Diaz led the team with two hits apiece.
· No. 2 seed UTSA ends its season with a 32-24 overall record while No. 6 seed Florida Atlantic advances to the next round with a 27-28 overall record.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Owls and Roadrunners scored one run apiece in the opening frame to end the first with a 1-1 tie. After an RBI double scored the first run for Florida Atlantic, UTSA responded as Hill launched a leadoff home run in the bottom of the frame.
In the bottom of the second, the Roadrunners took a 3-1 advantage. Small ball paid off as the team loaded the bases using a hit by pitch, single and bunt single. Then, a bunt single by Whitt Joyce brought in the go-ahead run. Hill followed that with a single to drive in one more.
The score didn’t budge in the third inning. Then, Florida Atlantic put up a big six-run inning in the fourth and that would prove to be the difference maker in the game. This big inning put FAU up by 7-3.
The fifth and sixth frames went scoreless as both teams battled against elimination. Ruger Riojas struck out three across those two innings.
The Owls added three more runs to their advantage (10-3) in the seventh frame.
The Roadrunners’ bats broke out again in the bottom of the eighth. Matt King and Alexander Olivo hit two consecutive singles to start the inning, before they both advanced on a passed ball. A couple of batters later, a groundout by James Taussig drove in King from third. After this Diaz reached first on an error which also brought home Olivo, cutting UTSA’s deficit to 10-5.
Florida Atlantic tacked on a couple more runs in the top of the ninth and UTSA could not answer, as the Roadrunners fell to the Owls by 12-5 and were eliminated from the American Athletic Conference Championship.
-UTSA-