In a matchup that featured 16 different pitchers, the No. 17 Texas State baseball team (32-10, 15-3 Sun Belt) fell to UTSA (28-13, 12-6 Conference USA), 8-14, Tuesday evening in the Bobcat’s final midweek road game of the season at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio, putting an end to their nine-game winning streak.
Neither squad’s starting pitcher lasted more than an inning. The longest any pitcher was on the mound for either team was two innings.
Suffering the loss for the Bobcats was redshirt junior pitcher Matthew Nicholas (1-1) while freshman pitcher Ryan Beaird (2-1) picked up the win for the Roadrunners.
In the first inning, the Bobcats came out hot with a two-run top of the first. Junior outfielder Ben McClain led off the inning with a single and on the next at-bat, senior shortstop Dalton Shuffield drove in McClain for the first run of the game. The Bobcats plated one more run to lead the Roadrunners 2-0 after the first half-inning of play.
In the bottom of the first, the Roadrunners had an answer for the Bobcat’s two-spot to open things up. In an inning that featured six hits, the Roadrunners put up a five-spot on the Bobcat senior starting pitcher Trevis Sundgren.
In the top of the second inning, the Bobcats would regain the lead, scoring four runs on two hits. The Bobcats held onto their one-run lead until an error by the Roadrunner freshman second baseman Isaiah Walker allowed Shuffield to reach first and score senior designated hitter Wesley Faison for the seventh run and sophomore catcher August Ramirez for the eighth and final run of the night for the Bobcats.
After 13 runs were scored in the first three innings neither team would be able to plate a run until the Roadrunners opened things up in the bottom of the sixth, scoring eight runs on four hits and two errors by the Bobcats. The lead would ultimately be insurmountable for the Bobcats as they could never answer.
In the next inning, the bottom of the seventh, with two runners in scoring position for the Roadrunners, junior catcher Sammy Diaz knocked in another run for his squad. The six-run lead for the Roadrunners would hold up until the end.
The Texas State Bobcat Baseball team will be back in San Marcos this weekend for a three-game series against Sun Belt Conference foe, South Alabama (23-16, 9-9 Sun Belt). The first pitch in game one is slated for 6 p.m. on Friday at Bobcat Ballpark.