CLEARWATER, Fla. — Senior pitcher Braylon Owens struck out 11 in 5.2 innings, setting up fellow senior James Taussig’s go-ahead RBI double as UTSA beat Rice 4-2 on Tuesday at BayCare Ballpark.
Despite Owens allowing just two hits during his time on the mound, the Roadrunners (43-11, 24-4 AAC) trailed the Owls (17-39, 10-18 AAC) entering the eighth inning. After freshman utility Caden Miller and senior outfielder Mason Lytle made their way onto the bags, Taussig delivered a clutch hit to give the ‘Runners their first lead since the opening inning. Senior infielder Norris McClure drove in an insurance run shortly after, giving sophomore stopper Robert Orloski some breathing room on the bump as the game came to a close.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in our guys,” Taussig said after the game. “I think we’re a really tight-knit group — I’ve said that all year. There’s just a lot of perseverance. There’s no give up. Me and [Lytle] kind of talked about it before, facing [Rice pitcher Davion Hickson] for that fourth time, what we’ve been seeing. We just wanted to go try and string together a couple of base hits. Hickson had really good stuff all day. I was just really looking for a pitch out over the plate. I got one. Coach [Pat Hallmark] and coach [Ryan Aguayo] talked to us ‘don’t control the result, control the pass.’ I took my best pass and was able to get a good barrel on it and found the gap.”
Lytle put UTSA out in front in the first inning with a solo-home run over the left field wall. Rice put two runs on the board in the fifth and sixth before Taussig regained the lead for the Roadrunners. McClure drove in Taussig with an RBI single into left field to give the ‘Runners a two-run cushion late.
Owens’ career-high 11 strikeouts helped the Roadrunners stay in the game with their starting nine struggling to produce offensively. When the Owls scored what ended up being their final run of the game, Hallmark brought in Orloski to stop the bleeding. Orloski allowed zero runs on zero hits across the final 3.1 innings.
“We all know Braylon and Rob have just awesome stuff. We had to face them all fall and it wasn’t a lot of fun,” Taussig said. “We want to show up for them. We know we don’t need that many runs, we just need a couple when we have those two guys going out.”
Lytle and Taussig shared the lead in hits with three each, while Taussig led in RBIs with two. Orloski improved his win-loss record on the mound to 8-0 as UTSA picked up its first win in the American Athletic Conference tournament. The Roadrunners have now won five-consecutive games against the Owls.
The No.1 seed Roadrunners will face off against No.5 seed Tulane University at noon Thursday at BayCare Ballpark.
