SAN ANTONIO — Junior pitcher Kendall Dove turned in his second quality start of the season in UTSA baseball’s 6-3 win over Dallas Baptist University on Sunday at Roadrunner Field.
After registering a three spot in the first inning, the Roadrunners (7-0) cruised through the middle innings behind Dove’s arm. It wasn’t until Dove was nearing his pitch count that the Patriots (4-3) were able to plate their first run. UTSA put rebuttal runs on the board and secured the series sweep after surviving a ninth inning scare.
“It was a great baseball game,” coach Pat Hallmark said after the game. “We talk about being complete, and we were a complete team today. We pitched it. We put together grown up at-bats versus good pitching in conditions that weren’t conducive to hitting, we played good defense and we ran the bases good. This is the kind of game that’ll make a coach pleased.”
Just like he did on Friday, sophomore infielder Josh Arquette put the Roadrunners on the board first. Arquette slapped an RBI single through the center of the diamond, scoring senior catcher Andrew Stucky and junior outfielder Lane Haworth. On the next at-bat, sophomore outfielder Christian Hallmark singled through the right side of the infield and brought Arquette home.
Following scoreless second and third innings from both sides, sophomore infielder Jordan Ballin tacked on a run in the fourth with an RBI single down the right field line. Dallas Baptist broke through in the fifth inning, to which UTSA responded with RBIs from Arquette and sophomore utility Caden Miller in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively.
Dove’s day concluded one batter past his pitch count. Dove fought to remain in the game despite Pat Hallmark viewing senior pitcher Gunnar Brown as a more favorable matchup for Patriots infielder Chayton Krauss. Pat Hallmark allowed it, and Dove forced Krauss into a fly out.
“I just love to compete,” Dove said about the moment. “In the at-bat before, [Krauss] was competing well and I thought I had him. I wanted to compete against him, so thanks to coach Hallmark for letting me get that opportunity.”
Brown eventually made his appearance and, through the final four innings, allowed two hits and two runs. Dallas Baptist put Brown in an unfavorable spot in the top of the ninth with runners on second and third with two outs. Brown proceeded to strike out Krauss and force a fly out, sealing the win.
“[Gunnar] was good [on Friday]. Those two big outs he got yesterday can’t be overlooked,” Pat Hallmark said after the game. “I’m proud of him for multiple reasons. One, he pitched good and threw strikes. Two, he’s actually making some mechanical adjustments while doing this. His arm has been a little long and slow in the back. So, him and coach [Luke] Malone and a little bit of me, we’ve been addressing that, just trying to get his arm compact.
That’s not easy to do. Changing your arm action at his age is a long process, and we’ve been working on it since last weekend. Being adaptable and coachable is very important.”
UTSA will hit the road for the first time this season to face Texas State University at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bobcat Ballpark.
