LUBBOCK, Texas -- After finishing off a four-game Lone Star Conference series with a 4-2 win at Lubbock Christian Sunday afternoon, No. 12-ranked UT Tyler claimed three of four games in the series for its fifth LSC series win and a share of the conference lead with Angelo State.

Cade Watson's RBI single in the fifth inning tied the game at 1-1, and Tanner Roach hit a two-run single in the seventh inning to give the Patriots the lead for good as four UT Tyler pitchers limited LCU to two runs on four hits while combining for 10 strikeouts.

Max Page made his first start of the season, and he allowed just one run on three hits with four strikeouts. Keith Long took over for the next 2.1 innings, adding four more strikeouts to claim the win. Zach Fernandez threw a perfect eighth inning, and Matthew McMillan notched his seventh save with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth.

With the victory and series win, UT Tyler improved to 19-3 overall and moved back into a tie for first place in the Lone Star Conference standings with Angelo State, which split a four-game series at St. Edward's this weekend. Lubbock Christian dropped to 7-15 on the season.

How It Happened: Lubbock Christian starter Aaron Wesemen kept UT Tyler scoreless until the fifth inning, but the Patriots broke through in the fifth to tie the game at 1-1 on Cade Watson's one-out single through the left side to score Lukas Polanco, who led off the inning with a single.

Two innings later, Tanner Roach drove in Corbin Geisendorff on a two-out single, but an error allowed Roach to circle the bases and extend the lead to 3-1. Riley Jepson added a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to make it a 4-1 game as McMillan took over on the mound for the bottom of the ninth.

Lubbock Christian brought the potential tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after a leadoff single and a one-out walk, but a double steal with an errant throw into left field allowed one run to score while the other baserunner was thrown out at third trying to gain an extra base. That gave McMillan two outs and a two-run lead with nobody on base, and he finished off his seventh save of the year with his second strikeout of the inning.

Roach and Jepson each finished with two hits, accounting for half of UT Tyler's eight hits on the day.

Inside The Box Score: Matthew McMillan is now the NCAA Division II national leader in saves with 7 after recording saves in the final two games of the weekend series… McMillan, who had three saves last year, ranks fifth among UT Tyler's career leaders in saves (10) and is one save away from moving into a tie for fourth on the list… Jordan Gochenour has reached safely by hit or walk in all 22 games of the 2020 season so far, drawing a pair of walks in Sunday's series finale… Riley Jepson went 2-for-5 to register his fifth multi-hit game in the past six games and 10th multi-hit game of the season… Tanner Roach scored 7 runs in the series, pushing his season total to 31 runs… Roach moved into 10th among the program's career leaders in runs scored, as his career total of 111 moved him past Trent Goree (2004-06) on the Patriots' career charts.

What's Next: UT Tyler returns home for a four-game series against West Texas A&M, which is currently ranked 16th in the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division II coaches poll and sits in third place in the LSC standings, two games behind conference leaders UT Tyler and Angelo State.