Box Score

After waiting until late Saturday night to learn they had advanced to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, Dallas Baptist (30-30) took an early lead against UT-San Antonio (35-23) but the Patriots were unable to garner much offensive support overall in the game and fell to the Roadrunners, 11-4. For DBU, the loss ends the 2013 campaign and begins a trek into the Missouri Valley Conference for the 2014 season and the foreseeable future.
 
Cy Sneed battled through 4.1 innings on the mound as the DBU starter, allowing two runs on three hits, and Michael Smith (5-7) was saddled with the loss after throwing his final 1.1 innings in a DBU uniform. He will leave the Patriots as the all-time leader in appearances and, his teammate for the last four years, Duncan McAlpine, played in his final game as the all-time DBU leader in career homeruns. The Patriots say goodbye to eight seniors in all as they begin preparations for summer baseball and the 2013 fall season at DBU.
 
The only early Patriot offense in the game came in the second inning, courtesy of some help from UTSA. McAlpine and Austin Listi drew back-to-back walks to start the inning and McAlpine scored as Chane Lynch lifted a ball into leftcenter field that was caught. As McAlpine and Listi tagged to advance, the throw into second was wide of the bag and trickled all the way to the UTSA first base dugout. That allowed McAlpine to motor home with the first run of the game and Listi to move to third. He scored one batter later as Mike Wesolowski picked up his fourth RBI of the tournament with a sacrifice fly.
 
Both sides would hold serve until the fifth when UTSA got to Sneed to tie the score at two. A dazzling catch by Listi in left opened the frame but a double, a single, and a walk would spell the end of Sneed's day. Michael Smith came on for DBU with the bases loaded and one out and recorded a run-scoring out on a fantastic diving play by Nash Knight at short. With runners on first and third, though, and a chance to get out of the inning with minimal damage, Michael Rockett singled softly through the leftside, just out of reach of a diving McAlpine, and UTSA had tied the score.
 
As a heavy rain started in the bottom of the sixth, Smith seemed to be in control with two quick outs. Three singles later, however, and that was not the case and the Roadrunners had a 3-2 lead. Then, with runners on first and third and a run already across, UTSA collected an insurance run with a double steal and held a two-run advantage to the seventh. DBU would go down quickly in that inning and UTSA took advantage of a DBU error in the bottom of the inning to score two more runs – their third straight frame of two runs and held a 6-2 advantage with six outs left to work with for the Patriots.
 
The Patriots got two runners aboard in the eighth but nothing else and San Antonio added five more runs in the eighth and Listi powered a two-run homer in his final at-bat of the season to get the game to its final score. UTSA will await word on their NCAA Regional destination while Dallas Baptist closes out the season one win shy of their third straight Regional appearance.
 
Members of the 2013 WAC All-Tournament Team:

Michael Miller, C, Dallas Baptist
Mike Wesolowski, IF, Dallas Baptist
Oscar Sanay, IF, CSU Bakersfield
Colby Targun, IF, Texas State
Andrew Ayers, IF, Sacramento State
RJ Perucki, IF, UTSA
Riley Good, OF, UTSA
Kyle Phillips, OF, New Mexico State
John Bormann, DH, UTSA
Brock Hartson, P, UTSA
Matt Sims, P, UTSA
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Matt Sims, P, UTSA