Caption
Close
After sputtering to get much offense going last season, the big bats for UTSA appear back this season.
The Roadrunners cracked three homers and top hitter Jesse Baker returned from a redshirt season to pound a pair of doubles in the Roadrunners’ season opener Friday night.
But it wasn’t enough as four UTSA errors led to two unearned runs as Quinnipiac escaped with a 5-4 victory at Roadrunner Field.
“We were shaky, shaky defensively,” UTSA coach Jason Marshall said. “In two innings that they scored multiple runs we had a combination of either passed balls or errors or a walk. You combine those things and they become sticks of dynamite.”
Marshall didn’t buy that his team’s early miscues were caused by first-game butterflies.
“You tip your hat to Quinnipiac,” Marshall said. They’ve had 14 inches of snow and come out and play almost errorless defense. There was definitely some anticipation and jitters that all of us have to get over in game one. We were just a little careless with the baseball and that was the difference in the game.”
Skyler Valentine cracked a pair of homers. His second blast capped a back-to-back power display after Kevin Markham’s homer preceded his at bat in the sixth to chase Quinnipac winning pitcher Christian Ni.
And Baker, a 2014 All-American, returned to the lineup with gusto. The Brenham product ripped a pair of resounding doubles, establishing the kind of power he showed before his redshirt season when he set the program record with 15 home runs.
In his first at-bat, he drove the first pitch deep off the right field wall to show he hasn’t lost any form.
“A leadoff double not only put us in a good position to get a run in, but also kind of personally for me was a huge moment,” Baker said. “It felt great.”
Starting pitcher Chance Kirby went four innings and picked up the loss, yielding two unearned runs among the four he surrendered in a performance that Marshall termed as “just OK.”
But Marshall was more enthused about a strong effort from his bullpen. Relievers Karl Craigie, Chris Muller and Tyler Giovanni combined to yield only two hits over the final five innings, striking out eight. UTSA pitchers combined to whiff 14 Bobcats in the game.
“Those guys were fantastic,” Marshall said. “I think where you really separate yourself is in the front end as well. We’re needing to get a quality start and then in close games, it will force you to play clean on defense and do the little things well.”
The Roadrunners had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth with pinch runner Stacy Ryan on second base with two outs. But Quinnipiac reliever Wyatt Hamilton coaxed Baker to fly out to right for the game’s final out.
“Things don’t always go like you planned, but we have a long weekend,” Baker said. “We’ve got an amazing pitching staff and great bats. We can hit for power, we have speed, you name it. I think things are looking up for this team.”
The two teams resume the series with a double-header starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
