HUNTSVILLE – Things did not go in the Sam Houston Bearkats favor in its series finale on Sunday as UTSA exploded for an 18-5 win, taking the weekend series at Don Sanders Stadium.
 
The Roadrunners (2-1) finished with 18 hits on the day, including home runs in the sixth and seventh innings, to break open what was a 6-2 game at the midway point.
 
Jack Rogers and Corbin Vines each hit 2-run homers for the Bearkats (1-3) on a day that saw them rack up a dozen hits of their own. Rogers reached base twice on the day, while Colton Cowser tripled and had three hits in five plate appearances for his first multi-hit game of the year.
 
Coltin Atkinson made his first career start for SHSU and was saddled with the loss, giving up a pair of runs in just 2.0 innings of work. Hunter Mason was the wining pitcher for UTSA with 1.2 scoreless frames.
 
UTSA scored each of its first four runs with two outs in innings, including single runs in both the first and second off of Atkinson. Sam Houston had a golden opportunity to answer in the bottom of the first as singles by Jackson Loftin and Cowser were followed by Jack Rogers being hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out; however, UTSA starter Reece Easterling was able to retire each of the next three Bearkats with no damage being done.
 
The Roadrunners went on to build up a 6-0 lead before the Kats got on the board when Rogers hit a 2-run homer to left-center field in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Cowser who had tripled one batter earlier. But the Roadrunners answered with a 2-run homer from Ian Bailey in the latter half of the inning and one frame later Griffin Paxton road a stiff breeze out to left field for a 3-run homer, essentially putting the game out of reach.
 
UTSA would go on to score seven runs in the ninth off a pair of Bearkat arms, while Sam Houston answered with a run on an RBI single from Gavin Johnson in the bottom half of the inning.
 
The Bearkats will now look to get in the win column on Tuesday when they travel to Waco to take on Baylor.