Roadrunners win again, pull to within two games of first place

The UTSA Roadrunners continued their hot roll on offense Saturday afternoon, pounding out 15 hits and two home runs in a 12-4 Conference USA road victory over the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders.

With the win, the surging Roadrunners pulled to within two games of the first-place Southern Miss Golden Eagles in the C-USA standings.

Earlier in the afternoon, the UAB Blazers beat the Golden Eagles, 3-2. Coming into the weekend, Southern Miss had won 15 straight. Now, the Golden Eagles have dropped two straight to the Blazers in Birmingham, a development that has allowed the Roadrunners to sneak into the title chase.

Meanwhile, in Murfreesboro, Tenn., UTSA won its second game in two days against Middle Tennessee and its sixth straight overall. Over its last 20 games, UTSA has won 17 of them. Also in the last 20, the statistics indicate that the Roadrunners are winning with hitting, averaging .324 in that stretch.

UTSA finished 15-for-43 at the plate against Middle Tennessee on Saturday. Josh Killeen stood out by smashing a third-inning grand slam to highlight a 4-for-5 performance. Killeen finished the day with 4 RBIs. Not to be outdone, Ian Bailey added a three-run homer in the ninth, as UTSA scored four runs in the final frame to put the game away.

Luke Malone (7-1) pitched 6 and 2/3 innings for the victory. He gave up three runs and nine hits along the way, but he also got some big outs. Malone fanned five. Peyton Wigginton (5-4) took the loss for the Blue Raiders. He gave up eight runs, seven of them earned, in 4 and 2/3 innings.

Jackson Galloway went 5-for-5 for Middle Tennessee, which had won five consecutive C-USA series coming into the weekend. Entering the series, Middle Tennessee had the second best RPI in the conference at 48th, while UTSA, in 51st, was third.

UTSA has won the first two games in dominant fashion, 13-2 and 12-4. The Roadrunners have hit six home runs combined in two days at Reese Smith Jr. Field. The finale of the three-game series is set for Sunday morning, with the first pitch at 11 a.m.

Records

UTSA 30-13, 14-6
Middle Tennessee 21-19, 11-9

Notable

The Roadrunners are 236 for 727 at the plate as a team (.324) over their last 20 games. They’ve also scored 195 runs (9.75 per game) during that stretch. In terms of power, they have hit 20 home runs over their last 20. But, in essence, most of their long-ball damage has been done recently, with 11 round-trippers in their last six outings.

C-USA leaders

Southern Miss 16-4
UTSA 14-6
Louisiana Tech 13-7
Florida Atlantic 12-8
Middle Tennessee 11-9
Old Dominion 11-9

Coming up

Sunday — UTSA at Middle Tennessee, 11:30 a.m.