SAN ANTONIO — Freshman pitcher Jake Qualia lasted a career-high 6.2 innings, allowing just two earned runs as UTSA baseball completed its sweep of Wichita State University with a 6-3 win on Sunday at Roadrunner Field.
After the Roadrunners (33-14, 15-6 American) were walked off by the University of the Incarnate Word earlier this season, Qualia did not see any game action for the next 19 days. He spent his hiatus regrouping, heeding the advice of coach Pat Hallmark and pitching coach Luke Malone. Without the pressure of preparing for gameday, Qualia was able to dial in on the specifics of what his coaches were looking for in his pitches. The time off has done wonders for Qualia as he kept the Shockers (26-23, 10-11 American) at bay in the series finale, earning his third win of the season and helping UTSA to its first American Conference sweep of the season.
“Jake was great,” Hallmark said after the game. “[He was] real mature considering he’s a true freshman. I thought he pitched like a grown-up, which I’m proud of him.
“Everyone is going to throw some balls, but with Jake, he’s got to miss low. He throws a little sinker and some off-speed, and so the off-speed should be low, not up. It’s not as easy as me and the pitching coach just saying it, but the last three weeks, Jake has been taking that to heart, and yeah, he did that today.”
Sophomore infielder Jordan Ballin got UTSA on the board first with an RBI groundout in the second inning. In the third, sophomore utility Caden Miller scored on a wild pitch from Wichita State pitcher Johnny Nuanez.
After a scoreless fourth, the Shockers launched a solo shot on Qualia to break their four-inning scoring drought. The Roadrunners responded with a sacrifice fly from junior outfielder Lane Haworth in the fifth and their second wild-pitch score from sophomore utility Jacob Silva in the sixth.
In the seventh, Wichita State homered again. Qualia struck out one more batter before Hallmark pulled him in favor of freshman pitcher Christopher Gutierrez. When Gutierrez could not secure the final out, Hallmark brought in senior stopper Sam Simmons to close out the inning. Simmons did just that, forcing a flyout for the final out.
The Shockers cut their deficit down to just one run in the eighth, but UTSA pulled away with its third wild-pitch score of the night and an RBI double from senior outfielder Drew Detlefsen.
Simmons earned his fifth save of the season after allowing one run and three hits across 2.1 innings.
UTSA will face No. 4 The University of Texas at Austin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
