Despite holding the Naturals scoreless through the first nine innings, the Missions allowed two runs in extra innings en route to a 2-0 loss on Thursday evening at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium. 

The Missions (4-2) dropped their home opener against the Naturals (2-4) earlier this week before tying the series up the very next day. A promising start to game three was squandered in the tenth inning, with San Antonio surrendering the late lead. 

“I hate losing,” coach Luke Montz said. “We learn a lot from it, though. We turn to tomorrow and we look and we say ‘Hey look at what we did last night. We lost that game, they didn’t beat us.’”

The Missions’ first scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the third inning. Outfielder Cole Cummings faced a 2-2 count with two runners in scoring position. Cummings watched as strike three flew past him, sending the would-be scorers back to the dugout. 

The starting pitchers for both teams, Missions’ Adam Mazur and Naturals’ Noah Cameron, combined for 10 strikeouts and zero runs allowed in their time on the mound. 

“Super impressed with [Mazur]. He cares from the bottom of his heart,” Montz said. “It was a great line by him; he has five days off and he’ll get the ball and go right back at it again.” 

As the game continued, both teams worked their bullpens, with neither team budging on the scoreboard. 

In the top of the tenth, the Naturals scored two runs. With Peyton Wilson starting on second base for the Naturals, an RBI double from outfielder Gavin Cross pushed Wilson to the plate. A wild pitch from Missions’ pitcher Woo-Suk Go allowed Cross to reach third base. On the following pitch, infielder Cayden Wallace sliced his first and only hit into left field to score Cross. Go closed out the inning and gave the Missions a shot to overcome a two-run deficit in the bottom of the tenth. 

With the game hanging in the balance, the bottom of the lineup was unable to record a single hit, striking out in three consecutive at-bats. 

“You’ve got to have those big-time hits if you want to win the ballgame,” Montz said.

Game four of the Missions’ six-game series against the Naturals is scheduled for  7:05 p.m. Friday at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium.

Rylan Renteria

Rylan is a psychology major in his junior year at UTSA, and is currently a writer for The Paisano. As a major fan of both the Seattle Seahawks and Mariners, Rylan is also very supportive of the San Antonio Spurs and all UTSA Athletics Aside from watching sports, Rylan enjoys watching horror movies, playing video games and playing intramural sports.