By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The 25th-ranked UTSA Roadrunners won their fourth straight game and their first of the season on the road Tuesday night, edging the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, 7-5.
Falling behind 3-0 after the first inning, the Roadrunners rallied with five straight runs to take the lead — scoring three in the fifth and two in the sixth.
For UTSA, Lane Haworth produced a fifth-inning, two-run double. In the sixth, Christian Hallmark added a two-run homer to make it 5-3.
Undeterred, A&M-Corpus Christi rallied in the seventh with two unearned runs to tie. UTSA, in response, came up with two more in the ninth to take the lead for good.
With two outs and two on base via walks, Diego Diaz smashed a ball to the right of second baseman Cade Sanchez, who misplayed it on the back hand, allowing Caden Miller to score from second base.
Jacob Silva followed with an RBI single up the middle that plated Lane Haworth from second.
On a throw to the plate that was far off line, Diaz tried to score from first but was out at the plate to end the inning.
Sam Simmons yielded a one-out single to Jackson Smith in the bottom of the ninth that brought the tying run to the plate.
In response, the right-handed reliever from Manvel struck out Cade Sanchez and Isaiah Afework to end the game.
Simmons (3-0) finished for the Roadrunners, working two and a third innings to earn the victory.
Islanders reliever Pierre-Luc Jacques (0-1) took the hard-luck loss after pitching the last two innings.
Jacques nearly had the Roadrunners shut down in the ninth.
The ground ball to Sanchez could have been the third out of a scoreless inning, but it seemed to take a bad hop, ticking off the fielder’s glove for a base hit that scored the go-ahead run.
The Islanders started strong, scoring three runs on two hits in the first.
Smith opened the rally with a one-out double to center, later taking third on a wild pitch. He scored when Miller, the UTSA first baseman, bobbled a ground ball.
With Sanchez on first base via the error, Afework delivered a two-run homer to center off UTSA starter Ryan Self, boosting the home team into a 3-0 advantage.
Records
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 8-5
UTSA 11-1
Coming up
UTSA at New Mexico State, Friday, 7 p.m.
UTSA at New Mexico State, Saturday, 7 p.m.
UTSA at New Mexico State, Sunday, noon
Notable
The Roadrunners entered the game with the Islanders looking to keep the momentum going from last weekend, when they won three straight at the prestigious BRUCE BOLT College Classic.
With wins in Houston against Ohio State, ninth-ranked Coastal Carolina and Baylor, UTSA earned enough recognition to gain a No. 25 national ranking Monday from D1 Baseball.
On Tuesday, the Roadrunners attained another notable milestone, emerging at No. 5 nationally in the first installment of the NCAA’s ratings percentage index.
Given all the notoriety, Roadrunners coach Pat Hallmark wanted to avoid a letdown. In the end, UTSA didn’t play its best game — it made three errors — but it did come away with its first road win of the season.
UTSA’s only loss this season came a week ago on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Texas State, 7-2.