The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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No. 7 Baseball earns 6-1 victory over UT-San Antonio
02.14.2006 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- By scoring six runs with two outs and having five pitchers combine to allow only one run on six hits, No. 7 Texas picked up a 6-1 win over UT-San Antonio in front 4,502 fans at Disch-Falk Field on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
With the win, the Longhorns (4-4) earned their fourth win in their last five games, while the Roadrunners dropped their third game of the 2006 campaign.
The Longhorns jumped in front 2-0 in the bottom of the second when a Preston Clark (Rockwall, Texas) two-out single with runners on first and second combined with a throwing error on the play to drive in both runners. Texas starter Austin Wood (Kingwood, Texas), meanwhile, retired seven in a row following a two-out single in the top of the first inning. UT then threatened to increase its lead in the bottom of the fourth by placing two runners on with one out, but Roadrunners' starter Blake Brannon induced a flyout and a groundout to work out of the jam unscathed.
UTSA looked to cut into the Horns' advantage in the top of the fifth by getting Ryan Saltzgaber, who singled to lead off the inning, to third with two down, but Texas reliever Joey Parigi (Monterey, Calif.) struck out his second batter of the inning to end the threat. One frame later, the Roadrunners again challenged the lead by receiving a leadoff single from J.R. Voyles, a walk and a hit batter. Voyles was then thrown out trying to steal in front of the walk before Parigi got a flyout followed by his third strikeout to end the top of the sixth.
Still clinging to a two-run lead, the Longhorns put together a threat of their own in the bottom of the sixth by receiving a one-out single from Bradley Suttle (Boerne, Texas) and a walk to Jordan Danks (Round Rock, Texas). After a flyout to center for the second out of the inning, Clark came up with his second two-out single of the contest to bring in Suttle and push Texas on top by a score of 3-0. Clay Van Hook (Brenham, Texas) then followed with a RBI-single to stake the Horns to a 4-0 lead through six innings of play. In the bottom of the seventh, three Texas base hits, including a two-out, RBI-single from Danks, brought in another UT score to make it a 5-0 ballgame. Another two-out run for UT in the eighth courtesy of a triple off the bat of Nick Peoples (Round Rock, Texas) and a single from Chais Fuller (Fairfield, Calif.) then upped the Longhorns' lead to 6-0. While reliever Kenn Kasparek (Weimar, Texas) worked two hitless innings of relief for Texas, UTSA began to rally in the top of the ninth after Kasparek's departure with a leadoff double from Michael McKennon, a hit batter and a one-out single to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from Eric Johnston then cut Texas' lead to 6-1, but Juston Street (Austin, Texas) struck out the last batter of the game to preserve the win for UT. While Wood tallied his first career victory in a declared start for the Horns after allowing only two hits and striking out three over four innings of work, Brannon incurred the loss for the Roadrunners despite surrendering one earned run on five hits and fanning four over five innings.
Paving the way for the Longhorns' 13-hit attack was Fuller, who went 3-for-5 with one RBI and one run scored, Clark, who drove in two runs during a two-hit effort, and Danks, who went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI. UT-San Antonio, meanwhile, was led offensively by McKennon and Saltzgaber, who each tallied a pair of hits to account for four of the team's six hits on the afternoon. Notably, Clark is now riding a career-best, five-game hitting streak while Fuller has hit safely in six of UT's eight games to date.
Up next, the Longhorns travel to Stanford, Calif., to face No. 11 Stanford in a three-game series beginning on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. Central.
