HOUSTON – The UTSA baseball team fell to the Rice Owls by 13-8 on Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park.
QUICK HITS
- Josh Killeen led the Roadrunners as he went 3-for-5 with two runs and a double.
- Tye Odom and Taylor Smith each notched two hits.
- Antonio Valdez reached base safely for the 24th consecutive game.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The first inning saw the minimum as both Uli Quiroga and J.D. McCracken forced 1-2-3 frames. The Roadrunners opened up scoring in the second inning as a fielder's choice and error scored two to give UTSA a 2-0 lead. The Owls scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to give Rice a 4-2 advantage.
The third inning went scoreless as Quiroga sat the Owls down in order with a groundout and two strikeouts. The Roadrunners regained the 5-4 lead in the fourth inning as a single by Odom and homerun by Smith drove in three runs.
In the next frame, Rice plated five runs to take a 9-5 advantage. UTSA began to chip away in the sixth as a single by Shane Sirdashney brought in two runs to cut Rice's lead to 9-7.
Scoring bounced back and forth through the final few innings. The Owls brought in a couple of runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead to 11-7. The Roadrunners answered with another run in the top of the eighth as Smith scored on a double by Barry. Once again, Rice had an answer in the bottom of the frame with two runs to extend its' lead to 13-8.
The Roadrunners went down in order in the top of the ninth as UTSA fell to Rice, 13-8, in the second game of the series.
The Roadrunners fell to an 19-5 overall record (4-1 in Conference USA action), while Rice improved to a 12-11 overall record (4-1 in C-USA).
ON DECK
The Roadrunners and Owls are set for the rubber match on Sunday in Houston. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. (CT) at Reckling Park, streaming on CUSA.tv.
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