The Roadrunners bounced back from an 0-2 start to win the final two games of a weekend series against the Saint Joseph’s Hawks.

A six run second inning helped the Saint Joseph’s Hawks hold on for the 11-10 win over the Roadrunners in Friday’s home opener at Wolff Stadium.

After a scoreless first inning, the Hawks jumped on Roadrunners starter Jordan Langley. The Hawks sent 11 batters to the plate and used a Roadrunner error to take an early 6-0 lead.

The Roadrunners got on the board in their half of the second inning using three walks and a sacrifice fly to Left Field to get back one run.

After a snails pace in the first two innings, the game began to pick up speed.

Neither team was able to score in the third, but in the fourth the Hawks tacked on three more runs to go up 9-1.

Again in the Roadrunners’ half of the Fourth, they were able to bring another run across the plate. This time the Roadrunners used three hit batsmen and a Daniel Rockett RBI double to get within seven of the Hawks, 9-2.

In the fifth, The Hawks brought in another run thanks in part to a Roadrunner error and a Greg Kumpel double. As had been the case in previous innings the Hawks scored, the Roadrunners had an answer. The Roadrunners made the score 10-3 on a Casey Selsor RBI single that was set up by a walk and a passed ball.

A scoreless sixth was followed by the Roadrunners holding the Hawks scoreless in the top of the seventh. The Roadrunners got to within six on a Selsor double and a Matthew James sacrifice fly that brought Selsor home from third.

The Hawks put an insurance run across the plate in the top of the eighth thanks to a couple of walks and a few fielder’s choice plays. The Roadrunners plated another run in the eighth and after holding the Hawks scoreless in the top of the ninth, found themselves down 11-5 with three outs to play with.

The bottom of the ninth would begin and end with a Roadrunner striking out, but in between those strikeouts, the Roadrunners made things interesting as they batted around in the bottom of the ninth before the winning run struck out for the final out with the tying run sitting on third base.

UTSA split the Saturday doubleheader with Saint Joseph’s, dropping the first game and winning the second game.

Game 1 of the doubleheader was a seven inning game that saw Saint Joseph’s Kyle Mullen earn his second win of the season by pitching seven shutout innings and giving up 6 hits with 3 walks. UTSA had trouble driving in runs as they left five men on base.

The third inning proved to be a struggle for Roadrunner pitcher Casey Selsor (0-2) as he walked Saint Joseph’s leadoff hitter Brett Tiagwad and gave up back-to-back singles to Kevin Kratochwill and Greg Kumpel to load the bases for cleanup hitter Kevin Taylor. Taylor responded with RBI single followed by another RBI single from Quinn Renner. Mike Muha tapped a light grounder back to Selsor, but Selsor overthrew the catcher committing the only error of the game and scoring the Hawks third and final run.

Those three runs were enough for the Hawks to hold on.

Game two of the twin-bill saw a renewed focus in the Roadrunners as senior right-handed pitcher Taylor Watson pitched six scoreless innings, giving up 4 hits with 5 strikeouts (a season-high).

Sophomore Jake Wood leadoff the second inning with a walk and started off a series of blunders for Saint Joseph’s senior right-handed pitcher Bryan Penalo (0-1). Junior Matthew James laid down a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher, but Penalo overthrew the first basemen and advanced Wood to third base. Freshmen Mike Warren was able to lay down the suicide-squeeze bunt as Penalo committed a second throwing error by overthrowing first base scoring Wood. Redshirt freshmen RJ Perucki was able to successfully lay down another suicide-squeeze bunt reaching base on another Penalo throwing error to first base. Freshmen Riley Good drove in junior Casey Selsor with a sacrifice fly to center giving the Roadrunners a 3-0 lead at the end of the second inning.

The Roadrunners never looked back as they were able to add to the lead with a run in the 6th and a pair of runs in the second. The final score was 6-0 as Saint Joseph’s four errors proved to be the difference maker.

Quality innings from the Roadrunners pitching staff and timely hits helped UTSA earn a split of the weekend series with Saint Joseph’s.

The Roadrunners improved to 4-4 on the season and are now 2-2 all time against the Saint Joseph’s Hawks.

Roadrunners starter Michael Kraft shrugged off a shaky first inning in which the Hawks plated their only run of the day when Brett Tiagwad scored on a Greg Kumpel sacrifice fly.

Kraft settled in and pitched six-and-two-thirds innings to pick up his first win of the season.

The Roadrunners got on the board in the bottom of the Fourth with two runs on four hits. The two runs by Daniel Rockett and Tyler Carpenter gave the Roadrunners a lead they would never relinquish.

Following the two run fourth by the Roadrunners, both teams settled into a rhythm and the game chugged along at a brisk pace.

The Roadrunners were able to tack on three more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to give them the 5-1 advantage that closer Zach Calhoon turned into a win by pitching a scoreless ninth in a non-save opportunity.

Roadrunners fall in extras to Oregon State, 10-7

Oregon State used seven pitchers but it was with the bats that the Beavers overcame the Roadrunners, 10-7 in 10 innings at Wolff Stadium Monday.

The Beavers were helped by a Roadrunner pitching staff that put 16 Beaver baserunners on by way of walks or hit batsmen. The Beavers themselves had seven hits, none more important than the go ahead three-run home run Beaver designated hitter Danny Hayes hit over the right field fence off of Roadrunner closer Zach Calhoon with no outs in the top of the ninth.

The Beavers tacked on one more in the top of the ninth to force the Roadrunners to score two runs in the home half of the ninth to tie.

The Roadrunners tied it in the ninth when Ryan Dalton hit a single to left that brought Tyler Carpenter home to tie it. Carpenter himself had just gotten a run-batted-in when he drove in Daniel Rockett.

The Beavers pulled ahead for good in the top of the tenth when pinch-hitter Carter Bell hit a three-run double with two outs in the top of the tenth. The Roadrunners went down in order in the bottom of the tenth.

It was a mighty turn of events that led to the defeat. The Roadrunners had entered the ninth inning with a 5-3 lead and closer Calhoon on the mound. But a walk and a hit-batsman set the table for Hayes to smash it over the ads on the right field fence.

The Roadrunners had fallen behind early, 3-0, in the top of the second inning but scored two runs in the bottom of the third and one in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 4-3 lead.

The Roadrunners tacked on an extra run in the seventh.