Matt Hellman | The Baylor Lariat
By Daniel Wallace
Reporter
For just the fourth time in 31 all-time meetings, the UTSA Roadrunners (8-18) beat the Bears (16-9) on Tuesday.
On a chilly, windy night, the Bears fell short to the Roadrunners, 4-2, despite a furious ninth inning rally that came up just short for the home team.
Junior pitcher Tyler Bremer fell to 2-2 on the season, recording the loss, giving up six hits and four runs. However, only one run was earned.
The Roadrunners’ Jordan Langley pitched 8.1 strong innings, only allowing two runs to cross the plate, and improved to 2-2.
The first four innings saw zeros all across the board, until UTSA was able to put three up in the top of the fifth.
The inning started with UTSA’s Daniel Rockett being hit by a pitch on a 2-1 fastball and was highlighted by a two-run triple into right center field by Roadrunners’ Tyler Carpenter. They scored three runs on two hits in the inning and were able to take advantage of a throwing error by second baseman freshman Lawton Langford.
The Roadrunners added one run in the sixth inning on pinch-hitter Jason Mohn’s bloop RBI single into center field.
Sophomore Max Muncy started off the bottom half of the sixth inning, providing a spark for the Bears as he belted a home run over the right field fence.
“During the game, he was actually the first pitcher I saw all year that gave me fastballs all at bat. When I hit it, I actually didn’t think it would go out,” Muncy said.
The team as a whole had eight base hits, but could only score two runs.
“We couldn’t put together all the hits in a row; we would have just one hit, one inning, and it was too spaced out,” Muncy added.
Bremer went to the mound wanting to be aggressive and was met by a team who had the same mentality.
“I just kind of wanted to get after these guys; I was surprised at how big of free-swingers they were,” Bremer said.
Despite being charged with the loss, Bremer had some good pitches working for him, especially in the first few innings.
“Early in the game, the ball was down with my fastball. The curveball was a really good pitch for me today.”
Down 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the Bears provided some drama. Sophomore Cal Towey led the inning off with a single, and the Bears would wind up scoring on a wild pitch later in the inning to cut the deficit to two runs. Two base hits in the inning and a walk put the Bears in position for another dramatic victory, but the game ended with the bases loaded and the Bears unable to cap off the ninth inning rally.
When speaking of the ninth-inning near-comeback, Muncy said, “The big thing for us is that’s how we should be playing the entire game.”
The Bears will finish a 14-game home stand at 4 p.m. today against Lamar.
