ODESSA, Texas (March 25, 2025) – The University of Texas Permian Basin baseball team came into the game looking to get a lot of hits and runs, but instead, the Falcons fell behind 10-3, three and a half innings in and never recovered en route to an 11-7 nonconference defeat against Sul Ross State University on Tuesday at Roden Field.

UTPB (8-21) outhit Sul Ross (3-30) 14-11, but committed five errors and left nine runners on base, eight runners in scoring position and five runners at third base.

Carson Johnson, Makai DeSoto and Taylor McDaniel were all 3-for-5 for UTPB. Johnson and McDaniel both scored twice and added a double, while Johnson also added an RBI-triple to his day and DeSoto smacked a pair of doubles. Junior center fielder Joseph Binder finished 4-for-5 with three runs batted in and three runs scored for SRSU.

UTPB led 2-0 after the first inning thanks to a one-out single to right field by Jack Haggerty, the RBI-triple to left center by Johnson and a sacrifice fly to right field by Brent Rigtrup.

A leadoff double followed by a pair of RBI-doubles later on in the inning helped the Lobos take a 3-2 lead in the top of the second, and then a leadoff double down the right field line by McDaniel and a sacrifice fly to right field by Kaleb Scull tied it at 3-3 in the bottom half. In the end, both teams would hit five doubles on the day.

SRSU would score three runs on three-RBI hits and four total hits for the second inning in a row in the third, and then made it 10 runs in just a three-inning stretch with four runs on just one hit in the top of the fourth inning, giving the Lobos the previously mentioned 10-3 advantage.

Coming in to pitch to start off the top of the fifth inning, Timmy LaChappa pitched two perfect innings and was followed by two shutout innings by Trevor Barth and Samuel Skipper. SRSU had just one baserunner between the fifth and eighth innings, coming on a dropped flyball to right field in the seventh inning.

During the Lobos' four-inning scoreless streak, however, the Falcons were unable to make a comeback offensively. McDaniel singled in a run in the bottom of the sixth and Wiki DeLeon led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to right field to make it 10-6, but with two runners on base with one out, back-to-back flyouts ended the Falcons' chance to make it closer going into the final inning.

Next up, the Falcons will have a huge series against No. 4-ranked The University of Texas at Tyler over the weekend (Mar. 28-30) at Roden Field.