By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Andrew Stucky hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th inning, and Braylon Owens retired three straight batters in the bottom half, as the UTSA Roadrunners upset the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns, 8-7, on a windy Tuesday night in Austin.
Andrew Stucky, shown here in a game from last season, belted a solo home run in the 12th inning Tuesday night to lift UTSA to an 8-7 victory over eighth-ranked Texas. – File photo by Joe Alexander
With the victory, the Roadrunners (17-6) won their third game this month against a prominent in-state college baseball program.
On March 4, they beat the 14th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 7-4, in College Station. Last weekend, they went 1-2 on the road against 20th-ranked Dallas Baptist, winning the middle game of the series, 15-11, on Saturday. They followed by taking down Texas (17-2) for the first time since 2019, snapping the Longhorns 17-game winning streak in the process.
Owens (3-1) emerged as the winning pitcher for the Roadrunners, while former UTSA star Ruger Riojas (5-1) took the loss for the Longhorns.
For UTSA, freshman Caden Miller from Madisonville hit two solo home runs. He led off the game with a solo shot in a two-run first inning to give the Roadrunners early momentum.
Afterward, the Longhorns retaliated, scoring one run in the first on a Max Belyeu solo blast, two in the second and third innings and another one in the fifth on a solo homer by freshman Adrian Rodriguez. When Rodriguez’s home run left the ball park, Texas had seeming control of the proceedings with a 6-2 lead.
In response, UTSA answered with three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh to take a 7-6 lead. Freshman Nathan Hodge capped the three-run sixth with a double off the glove of third baseman Casey Borba. In the seventh, the left-side hitting Miller started the uprising by pulling a pitch and sending a rocket over the right field wall for one run. The other came home on a throwing error by Borba.
The Longhorns answered in the eighth when junior catcher Rylan Galvan homered. His solo shot off UTSA reliever Kendall Dove landed far beyond the left field wall and tied the game, 7-7.
Drama unfolded in the top of the ninth inning when the Longhorns sent Riojas into the game to pitch to his former teammates. For the last two seasons, the Wimberley native had been a fixture in the UTSA program as one of the Roadrunners’ top arms. Last season, he led UTSA in wins (10), saves (seven) and earned run average (3.25). In the offseason, he entered the transfer portal and elected to move to a higher level to pitch for Texas.
With UTSA in the visitors’ dugout in Texas’ home ballpark and the Longhorns’ 17-game streak on the line, Riojas ended up pitching the last four innings of the game. From the ninth through the 11th, he was brilliant, holding the Roadrunners off the scoreboard in each frame. In the 11th, UTSA had a great chance to win it with runners at second and third base and nobody out. But Riojas retired three straight — the first two on strikeouts — to get out of the jam unscathed.
In the 12th, the Roadrunners finally caught up with him. After he retired brothers Ty Hodge and Nathan Hodge, Stucky stepped up and barreled a ball over the left field wall for the go-ahead run.
UTSA pitching, in turn, was masterful down the stretch. Roadrunners pitchers allowed the Longhorns only one run in the last seven innings of the game. Dove pitched three and two-thirds, giving up only the solo homer in the eighth. Afterward, Zach Royse, Robert Orloski and Owens combined to work the last four innings scoreless.
In the bottom of the 12th, Owens retired Galvan on a ground ball before making a key defensive play. Jaden Duplantier hit a slow roller that Owens fielded cleanly, firing to first for the out. Gasparino, who has a .549 slugging percentage, came to the plate as the Longhorns’ last hope and struck out swinging to end the game..
Interestingly enough, Royse, Orloski and Owens are three fixtures in UTSA’s weekend rotation. Royse and Owens are starters and Orloski is a reliever, the team’s designated stopper with a 6-0 record. Moreover, UTSA’s opening series in the American Athletic Conference is coming up this weekend in Charlotte, N.C. The series against the 49ers starts Friday night.
Records
UTSA 17-6
Texas 17-2
Coming up
UTSA at Charlotte, Friday, 5 p.m.
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