STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS – The UTSA baseball team defeated Tarleton State Saturday night by a final score of 12-8. UTSA moves to 2-0 on the year and will look to sweep the series against the Texans tomorrow afternoon.
Timely hits and Tarleton mistakes helped fuel the early UTSA run. UTSA only had two hits in the first inning, but drew four walks and capitalized on numerous passed balls and a wild pitch. At the end of the first, Chase Keng and Leyton Barry had RBIs as UTSA led 4-0.
The Roadrunners added two more in the second, as an Ian Bailey RBI double and a Ryan Flores RBI helped give the Roadrunners a 6-0 cushion.
Tarleton's bats came alive in the bottom of the second, as they scored four to trim UTSA's lead. However, in the top of the third UTSA kept their foot on the gas and matched Tarleton's four runs with four of their own. After getting two runners on due to an error and an HBP, Poston whacked an RBI single. Then, with two on, Tapia hit an RBI double. Bailey capped off the scoring in the third with an RBI sac fly.
Following the frantic first three innings, the scoring slowed a bit. Tarleton made things interesting in the fifth, as they loaded the bases with no outs. The Texans were able to get one across but then Ulises Quiroga proceeded to strike out three in a row to end the inning.
Ian Bailey reached first thanks to a Tarleton error to start the seventh inning. First baseman Ryan Flores then came up for the Runners and knocked a double into center, plating Bailey. As the seventh inning ended, the Roadrunners had just completed their fifth pass-through of the lineup.
The Texans found life in the bottom of the eighth, as they produced three runs to cut the Roadrunner lead to just three.
As the ninth inning rolled around, Chase Keng hit a single to get on and stole second thanks to an error by the Tarleton catcher. Ian Bailey stepped up to the plate and bought the Runners an insurance run by hitting a sac fly RBI to score Keng.
Reece Easterling shut down the Texans in the ninth, retiring all three batters in a row to secure a 12-8 UTSA victory.
Following Saturday night's victory, Coach Hallmark achieved his 100th career win.
SATURDAY INFO
Home Runs: N/A
WP – Ulises Quiroga (1-0): 3 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk
LP – Kyler Mentzel (0-1): 0.2 IP, 2 hits, 4 runs, 2 strikeouts, 4 walks
UP NEXT
The Roadrunners will conclude their season-opening series against Tarleton State tomorrow as they look to complete the sweep of the Texans. Braylon Owens is scheduled to start for UTSA in the third game at the Tarleton Sports Complex on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT and will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network.
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