Photo Credit: Jeff Huehn/UTSA Athletics

Entering their weekend series
with Texas State, UTSA was on a hot streak winning two consecutive WAC series
and four out of their last six games. The Roadrunners failed to continue their
success by losing two of three games to the hated rival Texas State Bobcats.

In Game 1 on Friday,
May 3, it appeared as if the ‘Runners were headed for a victory. The Bobcats
struck first on second baseman Colby Targun’s RBI single in the top of the
second inning. But in the bottom of the fifth, UTSA’s left fielder Riley Good
singled in a run followed by center fielder Daniel Rockett’s RBI double to give
the Roadrunners 2-1 lead.

With two outs, Texas
State was able to score a run in the top of the eighth inning on shortstop
Garrett Mattlage’s RBI single. The Bobcats then had an opportunity to tie the
game in the eighth with runners on base, but UTSA closer Matt Sims (3.25 ERA) was
able to force a ground out that helped the ‘Runners escape the jam. Sims emphatically
closed the game in the ninth inning by striking out all three batters he faced to
collect his fifth save of the season and gave UTSA a 3-2 victory over Texas
State.

On Saturday, May 4,
Game 2 was and extra-inning affair between UTSA and Texas State. The Bobcats
and the ‘Runners carried an 8-8 tie, until UTSA ran into trouble in top of the
eleventh. Texas State took advantage of a UTSA error, a sac bunt and a series
of walks. Texas State collected five runs in all which propelled them to a 13-8
victory.

“It boiled down to when
we would score two, they would score three. They would just get the extra hit
in situations with runners in scoring position,” UTSA Head Coach Jason Marshall
said. “The margins were really slim today. It really boiled down to them
getting some clutch RBIs.”

Texas State used Game
two’s momentum to take a 12-3 victory over UTSA on Sunday, May 5. UTSA scored first
in the bottom of the third inning by scoring two runs after Good and Rockett
lead off with singles and each player eventually scored. Texas State answered
by scoring 12 runs in the final four innings including a six-run ninth inning.

“You got to hand it to
them, when they had opportunities to score they just kept getting hits. A lot
of their rallies started very innocent,” Marshal said. “Today we had a couple
mistakes. You got to hand it to them they continued to hit and put pressure on
us and kept making us make changes.”

The two losses to
Texas State marks UTSA’s first WAC series loss in three weeks. The ‘Runners
(25-22, 9-11 WAC) will return to the diamond on Friday, when they host WAC
opponent New Mexico State (27-21, 12-9 WAC) in a three game series at Roadrunner
Field.