RUSTON, La. – Perfectly in line with the standard set by the prior games of this weekend's Conference USA series at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field, UTSA (7-32, 3-11 C-USA) and Louisiana Tech (26-18, 8-7 C-USA) squared off in their third and final pitcher's duel. This time the Roadrunners and Lady Techsters carried a scoreless contest into the 10th inning behind Jamie Gilbert and Emma Hutchinson, respectively, before LA Tech secured a sacrifice fly to walk-off UTSA for a 1-0 victory.
Entering the circle for UTSA in relief with one out and two runners in the third inning, junior Jamie Gilbert demonstrated the gutsy play she was bringing to the table right away. Settling down from a first-batter walk, Gilbert fanned the next two batters to close the door on the early Louisiana Tech threat. In fact, after the initial walk Gilbert put down 14 of the next 15 batters she faced – not allowing a base hit until the eighth inning.
In the 10th and final frame, the Lady Techsters finally were able to put a barrel on some of Gilbert's pitches, with Bailey Wright driving a leadoff single up the middle and then reaching third on Amanda Gonzalez' single fired down the third baseline. Just when it looked like UTSA may escape yet another jam, Kylie Neel sent the ball just deep enough into center field for Wright to beat the throw home on the walk-off sac fly.
Despite the loss, Gilbert (1-8) went a career-long 7.1 innings, striking out a season-best seven of the 28 batters she faced. Gilbert allowed one walk and just four hits in arguably her best performance of the season – throwing a season-high 123 pitches in the longest UTSA game since 2017.
Following five innings from Allie Floyd, Hutchinson (3-1) bailed out the Lady Techsters several times over to earn the win on 5.0 innings of work. Hutchinson allowed the first UTSA runner to reach second in the sixth, but also drew the third-out fielder's choice to escape the harm. She silenced the Roadrunners for the next three innings, but almost surrendered the lead again in the 10th, as Lindsey Davis, Ciarra Mata and Kat Ibarra loaded the bases with singles. However, Hutchinson drew Marena Estell into a flyout to center that created the opportunity for the Louisiana Tech home-half victory.
Six Roadrunners collected hits, paced by a 2-for-4 performance by Mata. In the circle, Kenzi Schultz and Gilbert allowed only two walks and combined for 10 strikeouts – the most for UTSA since Feb. 29, 2020 (at Jacksonville State).
The Roadrunners will travel across town on Tuesday afternoon to rematch with Incarnate Word (13-23-1) at 5:00 p.m. When the Roadrunners and Cardinals met at Roadrunner Field in February, UTSA came out with a 6-5 walk-off victory. Over the weekend, UTSA will host UAB in a conference series, Friday-Sunday at Roadrunner Field.
- UTSA -
