SAN ANTONIO — Sophomore utility Caden Miller knocked a game-winning RBI single through the right side of the infield in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving UTSA baseball an 8-7 win over East Carolina University on Sunday at Roadrunner Field.
By the time the fifth inning concluded, the Roadrunners (20-8, 4-2 AC) had amassed a 5-0 lead. The Pirates (16-12-1, 3-3 AC) stormed back to take a 7-5 lead and forced out UTSA’s stopper, junior Sam Simmons. Junior outfielder Lane Haworth sent the game to extra innings with a two-RBI single at the bottom of the ninth, and Miller’s hit sealed the series.
“I just treated it like any other at-bat,” Miller said after the game. “It’s obviously a big moment, but at the same time, it’s ‘Go up there, be relaxed, be loose and just trust my craft.’ Everyone kind of looks at it like ‘Oh, big moment,’ and it is, but you have to stay calm, cool and collected. Trust the work you put in and be ready to hit.”
In the top of the 10th, junior pitcher Cody DeMont forced East Carolina into three groundouts.
The Pirates opened up the bottom of the inning by hitting sophomore outfielder Christian Hallmark with a pitch. Junior infielder Diego Diaz pushed Christian Hallmark to second with a sacrifice bunt before East Carolina pitcher Joseph Webb walked sophomore infielders Josh Arquette and Jordan Ballin to load the bases. Miller drove the first pitch of his at bat into right field, and Christian Hallmark sprinted home uncontested for the win.
“[It was] a huge moment,” Miller said. “You walk off the Pirates at home to win the series on a Sunday. It was a hard-fought game, going down in the seventh and battling our way back. It was exciting for sure.”
Ballin, who missed Saturday’s game because of strep throat, drove in the Roadrunners’ first three scores of the game in the second and fourth. The final run didn’t go down as an RBI for Ballin, but he forced the Pirates into a rundown in between first and second, allowing Diaz to score.
“Jordan flu game, I guess,” Ballin joked.
Sophomore utility Jacob Silva homered in the fifth, increasing the lead to five.
East Carolina piled on seven runs against senior pitchers Mike DeBattista and Simmons, but the Roadrunners prevailed, earning their second American Conference series win this season.
“I’m pleased we won,” coach Pat Hallmark said after the game. “I don’t know if we deserved to win, and I mean that with all sincerity. I hope no one takes that the wrong way. I just wish we could play cleaner baseball. Three hit by pitch, a walk and two errors just in that one inning. As a coach, you just can’t feel good about it, but God we’re tough. We have tough people and we’re mentally tough.”
UTSA will hit the road, but stay in San Antonio, for its matchup with the University of the Incarnate Word at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Sullivan Field.
