SAN ANTONIO (Interstat) — A two-run eighth inning, capped by a go-ahead run on a defensive miscue, lifted Texas-San Antonio to a 3-1 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a tightly contested non-conference baseball game Tuesday night at Roadrunner Field.

The game, a rematch of a March 3 meeting won 7-5 by the Roadrunners, was a defensive struggle defined by strong pitching until the decisive bottom of the eighth. With the score tied 1-1, UTSA’s Mason Ballin drew a leadoff walk against Islanders reliever Jack Robertson. The next batter, Sam Miller, drove a double to right-center field, scoring Ballin from first. The play was compounded by a throwing error from Islanders second baseman Cade Sanchez, allowing Miller to advance to third base with no outs.

After a sacrifice bunt moved Miller to third, UTSA’s Chase Haworth hit a fielder’s choice to first base, bringing Miller home to give the Roadrunners a critical insurance run and a 3-1 lead.

The most important sequence of the game was that eighth-inning rally by Texas-San Antonio. Until that point, the contest had been a deadlock, with both teams managing just one run despite numerous pitching changes and strategic defensive shifts. Miller’s RBI double, immediately followed by Sanchez’s throwing error, transformed a potential one-out, runner-on-second situation into a runner on third with no outs. That error proved catastrophic, as it set up Haworth’s subsequent fielder’s choice, which drove in what became the winning run without the need for another hit. The two-run outburst broke the tie against an Islanders bullpen that had been largely effective, shifting the game’s momentum decisively in the final frames.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a double by Sanchez but saw it erased in the second. UTSA’s Ryan Detlefsen was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on two wild pitches by Islanders starter Pierre-Luc Jacques, and scored on a single by James Hallmark.

The Islanders reclaimed the lead in the sixth when Sanchez hit a solo home run to left field off Roadrunners reliever Ty Hubbard. That 2-1 advantage held until the fateful eighth.

Pitching dominated much of the night. The Islanders out-hit the Roadrunners 6-3 but stranded key runners. UTSA used eight pitchers in a bullpen game, with Connor Kelley, Cody DeMont and Sam Simmons combining for six scoreless innings of relief. Holden Harris started but was pulled after just one inning.

For the Islanders, relievers Kade Budd and Bryson Shea provided two hitless innings each, while Nathan Mueller pitched a scoreless final frame. Jacques struck out four over two innings but was charged with the tying run.

With the win, Texas-San Antonio improved to 18-7 overall, while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fell to 11-14. The Roadrunners defied the statistical projections, as Interstat’s game simulator had predicted a 7-3 UTSA victory and its ELO system gave the home team an 83.4% probability to win.

Texas-San Antonio opens a three-game home series against East Carolina on Friday. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi begins a Southland Conference series at Texas-Rio Grande Valley, also on Friday.