Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Baseball scores big in weekend opener

zach calhoon.jpg

The UTSA Men’s baseball team began the 2009 season with an 8-5 victory over the University of San Francisco Dons Friday night at Wolff Stadium. The opening day win was the club’s first since October of 2000, as well as the first under Head Coach Sherman Corbett.

The Dons took the lead early with a 2-0 advantage thanks to a pair of hits and a UTSA error. However, the Runners would respond in the bottom of the first with a pair of hits of their own to tie the game.

After a pair of runs from USF prompted the entry of freshman pitcher Casey Selsor, it was the Runners turn. The bottom of the third proved to be the most lucrative inning for the Runners as they scored five times to post a 7-4 lead. The inning’s first run occurred when Matt James was hit by Dons pitcher Matt Lujan to bring Aaron Powell home and load the bases. Marshall Davis stepped up to hit a 2 run single and would later score to end the inning.

The Don’s only response came from second baseman Robert Abel who scored on a pop-fly in the eighth. But by then it was too little too late as the Runners had amassed a total of 8 runs, the last of which was a result of a sixth inning homer by Senior All-American Michael Rockett.

After his work was done, sophomore Kevin Clarke replaced Selsor to close out the eighth inning. All-American Zach Calhoun would put the final touch on the Runners’ convincing victory by notching two strike outs.

The Runners had a double header on Saturday Feb. 21. In game one, the Dons put the Runners away with a 13-9 win.

Game two saw the Runners torching the Dons 12-3. The final game of the weekend series also went in the Runners’ favor, with a final score of 6-3. UTSA was able to draw first blood in the bottom of the second when left-fielder Jose Hernandez scored, making the score 1-0. USF quickly countered in the top of the third with runs by catcher Ryan Lipkin and designated hitter Connor Bernatz, giving USF a 2-1 lead.

UTSA exploded in the bottom of the fourth with five runs, extending the Runners’ lead to four. Junior closer Zach Calhoon had two total saves, one in game one and the other in game four.

After he was asked about the significance of the these two saves, Calhoon responded with, “It just means two more wins; all I care about is our team winning.”

Zach gave his thoughts on Tuesday’s game at A&M-Corpus Christi: “The first word that comes to mind is ‘revenge’. They handed us a loss last season and it will be good to go down there and get the ‘w’; we got a bone to pick with them.”

“This was a very solid series for us. USF was a good challenge for us and we took the series from a very talented ball club,” Coach Sherman Corbett commented after the game four win.

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