C-USA showdown: Dallas Baptist hits three home runs to down UTSA, 11-7

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Opponents have little room for error when they face the explosive Dallas Baptist Patriots.

Two or three mistakes in a nine-inning game, and the Patriots can bury a team in a deep hole in a hurry. That is pretty much what happened to UTSA on Friday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.

Luke Malone. UTSA played Dallas Baptist in the opener of a Conference USA baseball series on Thursday, May 12, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Luke Malone, pitching in relief, yielded 10 runs on nine hits in 6 and 2/3 innings to take the loss against Dallas Baptist. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Ethan Mann, George Specht and Nathan Humphreys homered as 18th-ranked Dallas Baptist rolled to an 11-7 victory over No. 22 UTSA, solidifying its hold on first place in Conference USA.

Mann belted a three-run home run in the third inning. In the fifth, George Specht socked a grand slam over the centerfield wall to highlight a five-run outburst. Humphreys belted a two-run shot in the eighth.

The outburst gave Dallas Baptist, one of the best home-run hitting teams in NCAA Division I, 92 homers in 50 games this season.

With stormy weather in the forecast, the teams are scheduled to play the second game of a doubleheader Friday night. A third game would be played, weather permitting, on either Saturday or Sunday.

Dallas Baptist got the jump on UTSA in the series and increased its lead on UTSA to a game and a half despite three hits each from Dalton Porter and Garrett Poston and two RBIs each from Leyton Barry, Antonio Valdez and Josh Killeen.

Killeen hit a two-run homer for the Roadrunners in the bottom of the ninth to account for the final runs of the game The Roadrunners had two runners on base when the Patriots retired Barry and Taylor Smith to end it.

Records

Dallas Baptist 21-4, 38-12
UTSA 19-5, 36-13

Coming up

Dallas Baptist at UTSA, Friday, 6:30 p.m. (second game of a doubleheader)
Dallas Baptist at UTSA, TBA, either Saturday or Sunday, weather permitting

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