By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Lefthander Conor Myles pitched scoreless baseball into the seventh inning, and Drew Detlefsen drove in three runs with three hits, as the UTSA Roadrunners scored an 8-0 victory over the Rice Owls Friday night in Houston.

With the decision, the Roadrunners set themselves up to win their 14th straight series in American Conference play if they can score another victory in the finale, scheduled for noon on Saturday.

UTSA entered the day on a two-game losing streak, having lost on walk-offs against both the University of the Incarnate Word Tuesday night in San Antonio and to Rice in the series opener Thursday.

After falling to the Owls 3-2 in 10 innings on a bases-loaded walk a night earlier, the Roadrunners handed the ball to Myles, who pitched a gem.

The 6-foot-4 southpaw from Australia kept Rice off balance all night, working six and a third innings, allowing no runs and permitting only two hits.

Much of the time, Myles had the Owls hitting either soft fly balls or pop ups.

Myles, who earned the victory and improved to 4-1, combined with relievers Christopher Gutierrez and Connor Kelley for the second shutout of the season for Roadrunners pitching.

Kelley finished the game with six strikeouts in two innings.

Earlier, Rice stayed in the game behind starter Ethan Sanders. After allowing an unearned run in the second, the freshman righthander held UTSA scoreless for four straight innings.

Detlefsen produced a run-scoring single in a three-run seventh and a two-run single in a three-run eighth as the Roadrunners broke the game open.

Records

UTSA 21-10, 5-3
Rice 19-13, 4-4

Coming up

UTSA at Rice, Saturday, noon

Notable

The Roadrunners’ only other shutout victory this season came on March 7 in Las Cruces, N.M. when they downed the New Mexico State Aggies, 13-0.

In that game, Myles pitched five and a third innings in a contest that was stopped after seven innings on the run rule.