SAN ANTONIO – Saint Mary's Baseball had a shot at a series split with UT San Antonio, but the Roadrunners came back in the sixth inning to win 4-2.
 
Freshman shortstop Jared Mettam was inserted into the leadoff spot on Sunday, and the move paid instant dividends as he belted a solo home run start the game and put Saint Mary's up 1-0.
 
The home run was Mettam's second in as many days and second of the season, and they'd get another solo homer in the fourth from Bill Ralston, which was also his second of the series and the season.
 
But they would have trouble stringing hits together outside of that and would lose runners on the base paths. They had a runner get picked off in the second before the next batter singled, and a caught stealing in the fourth inning.
 
Ryan Wiltse didn't allow a hit through his first four innings, before the Roadrunners got their first hit on an infield single in the field followed by a base hit up the middle. A double steal was followed by an RBI groundout to make it a 2-1 ballgame, but Wiltse struck out the next batter to end the threat.
 
In the sixth inning, however, three-straight singles were followed by a triple down the right field line that cleared the bases, that proved to be the difference in the game when it put UTSA up 4-2. Wiltse would still finish the sixth by inducing a pair of groundouts and struck out six batters on the day without allowing a walk.
 
The Gaels threatened in the next inning, as Blake McDonald led off the seventh with a single. But the next two batters were retired before a Mettam single, and a flyout would send the game to the seventh-inning stretch, ending SMC's last real threat of the day.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will host Central Michigan for a four-game set at Islander field in Lathrop, Calif. March 3-5.