SAN ANTONIO — Sibling duo infielders Ty Hodge and Nathan Hodge combined for six RBIs as UTSA baseball secured its ninth conference series victory with a 11-4 win over Rice University on Friday at Roadrunner Field.
The Roadrunners (41-11, 22-4 AAC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening inning before the Owls (17-37, 10-16 AAC) cut into their deficit with three runs in the second frame. The ‘Runners put scattered runs on the board throughout the middle innings thanks to contributions from N. Hodge and T. Hodge before senior pitchers Braylon Owens and Jake Cothran shut out Rice over the final four frames.
“They’re great,” coach Pat Hallmark said of the sibling duo. “We got them late in the summer. We’re fortunate. They were going over to [Houston Christian University]. Then Lance [Berkman], he resigned. They weren’t ready to go there without him there. We were lucky. We jumped on them. They’re both very good players.”
Senior outfielder James Taussig opened up the scoring for UTSA with a sacrifice fly into left field that allowed freshman infielder Jordan Ballin to score. T. Hodge and N. Hodge registered RBI singles in back-to-back at-bats before senior infielder Norris McClure closed out the inning with an RBI single that pushed N. Hodge to score.
“We just stayed on our normal approach, trying to get a good pitch to hit and take a good pass at it,” N. Hodge said of the team’s hot start. “Yesterday it didn’t work out until the middle of the game, but we got it going early today.”
After a three-run second inning from Rice, N. Hodge added to the Roadrunners’ lead in the third with a two-run home run over the left-field wall.
“It’s always fun to watch Nathan do well. It’s been a joy to play with him. I like watching him play. Especially when he does well,” T. Hodge said. “I got to do the ‘boom’ with him. So, that was pretty cool. Off the bat I knew it was a homer. I had my hands up in the air.”
The ‘Runners added three runs to the scoreboard in the fifth and sixth innings. McClure singled to first base, allowing T. Hodge to score from third. Sophomore utility Diego Diaz finished out the fifth with a sacrifice fly out to center field and T. Hodge picked up a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.
UTSA added an insurance run in the eighth to secure the win.
T. Hodge, N. Hodge and McClure tied for the lead in hits with two each as the Roadrunners slashed .266 at the plate in the win. Owens, Cothran and Conor Myles combined to allow four runs on nine hits with nine strikeouts. The former two allowed zero runs in 3.3 innings pitched.
UTSA will look to sweep Rice at 1 p.m. Saturday at Roadrunner Field.
