Baseball Outlasts UTSA in Game Two

After taking a beating on Friday night in the opener of a three game series against Texas State, the UT-San Antonio Roadrunners came out with a lot more energy Saturday afternoon. On Friday Carson Smith held the Roadrunners to 2 hits and no runs in 7 innings.

The Roadrunners scored early when Tyler Carpenter singled to open the game and came home one play later on a Casey Selsor triple. Texas State starter Michael Russo struggled early having to work out of two jams in the first two innings. The roadrunners scored 3 runs in those first two innings, loading the bases in the first before a double play ended the inning.

UT-San Antonio’s starter Taylor Walton was dominating the Bobcats until the fifth inning when Texas State finally put two runs on the board. The ‘Cats then plated another in the sixth after a bomb from none other than Kyle Kubitza, but UTSA answered the comeback with a two-run homer from Ryan Hutson in the eighth to take a 5-3 lead.

Texas State came right back in the bottom of the inning with back-to-back base hits from Kyle Livingstone and McVaney. A wild pitch shifted the pair and a sacrifice fly from Jason Martinson drove in a run. Kubitza backed it with an RBI double to left center and Texas State tied the game once more.

An error in the top of the ninth threatened Texas State's comeback, but Garret Carruth came to the mound and retired the inning with six pitches. With a final chance to take the victory, Clint Vest reached base on walk to put the winning run in place. Colton Burnett replaced Vest on the base paths and on one out, Atwood singled into left field to advance the runners. Livingstone followed with a fielder's choice to third base, putting Burnett out on the play and the Bobcat had just one out to work with. McVaney came through with a shallow base hit into left center to plate Atwood for the win.

McVaney finished the day 2-for-5 with one RBI. Kubitza led the team with a 2-for-3 effort and two runs scored. Altogether, Texas State tallied 12 hits. UTSA was held to nine hits, led by Hutson and Bret Aguilar with a 2-for-5 effort. Carruth earned the win and improved to 4-2 on the season.

The Bobcats will head to the Alamo City to close out the series with UTSA. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Roadrunner Field. KTSW FM (89.9) will provide a live broadcast of the game.

Will McGinnis, KTSW Sports Staff Writer