| April 21, 2005
Contact: Matt Schabert (210) 458-4930 Roadrunners ready for weekend battle with Southeastern Louisiana Complete Release | Live Stats | Listen Live SAN ANTONIO - Winners of four of its last five, the University of Texas at San Antonio baseball team gears up for a three-game Southland Conference series with visiting Southeastern Louisiana this weekend, starting Friday at 3 p.m. at Roadrunner Field. UTSA Roadrunners (17-24, 9-6 SLC)
vs.
Southeastern Louisiana Lions (18-21, 7-8 SLC)
April 22-24
Friday, April 22 - 3:00 p.m. • Roadrunner Field
Saturday, April 23 - 2:00 p.m. • Roadrunner Field
Sunday, April 24 - 1:00 p.m. • Roadrunner Field
First Pitch
• The Roadrunners stay at home this weekend to host Southeastern Louisiana in an important three-game series.
• UTSA has won four of its last five games.
• The Roadrunners are coming off a 23-7 thrashing of Texas-Pan American Wednesday. In the game, UTSA set a school record with 26 hits.
• The Roadrunners sit in third place in the conference at 9-6, just one game back of second place Lamar and Texas-Arlington.
• UTSA has averaged 12.9 runs per game and 15.8 hits in its last five games.
Roadrunner Tidbits
The Roadrunner offense has exploded for 63 runs and 79 hits in its last five games...Every player in the lineup got at least one hit in both the games at Texas-Pan American this week...Junior Ryan Crew is hitting .522 (12-for-23) in the last five and has at least two hits in all those contests along with 10 runs scored...With six hits this week, Crew has moved into a tie for fifth place in career hits at UTSA with 196...Sophomore Michael McKennon posted a career high five RBIs in Wednesday’s 23-7 beating at UTPA and leads UTSA with 29 RBIs...He is hitting .455 in the last five games (10-for-22)...Freshmen Mark Ruffin and Marshal Davis both recorded career firsts Wednesday - Davis his first three career hits and Ruffin his first career victory...As a team, the Roadrunners are hitting .387 in the last five games...Crew, McKennon, J.R. Voyles and Stephen Holdren are all above. 400 in the last five...UTSA is hitting .295 overall but has upped that to .308 in conference games...Sophomore Steven Vasquez’s win Tuesday was his first since May 16, 2004.
Roadrunners Hit On All Cylinders, Break Three School Records
In Wednesday’s 23-7 win over Texas-Pan American, the Roadrunner offfense produced a school record 26 hits, including 23 singles, two doubles and a triple for 53 total bases, also a school record. It broke the previous record of 25, set twice (1995 and 2002). UTSA’s 53 at-bats was also a single game record, while the 23 runs came up just one short of the school record.
Scouting the Lions
Southeastern Louisiana is 18-21 overall and 7-8 in the Southland Conference entering the weekend. The Lions took two of three games from defending champion Lamar last week at Lamar SLU is a potent offensive club, hitting .303 as a team. Randy Roth paces the Lions with a .369 average and four home runs. Ryan Spencer has smacked eight homers this year. Bernard Robert leads the pitching staff with a 2.88 ERA and ranks second in the SLC in Ks/nine innings.
Up Next
The Roadrunners travel to College Station to face Texas A&M on Tuesday, April 26 at 7 p.m. UTSA dropped a 4-1 decision to the Aggies on Feb. 22.
A Look at the Series
One of the most closely contested league series for UTSA, the Roadrunners trail 11-10 against the Lions. Southeastern Louisiana has taken three of the last four games in the series, including two last year in Hammond, La. UTSA has swept a series once, in 2001, while SLU swept the Roadrunners a year earlier in 2000. Last year, SLU took game one 11-0 before the Roadrunners responded with a 5-1 win in game two. The Lions escaped with a 5-3 decision in the Sunday finale.
Last Time on the Field
UTSA set a school record with 26 hits and came up one shy of the school record with 23 runs in a 23-7 hammering of Texas-Pan American. Six players had at least three hits and nine had at least two. Mark Ruffin picked up his first collegiate win in relief. The Roadrunners tallied a season high 10 runs in the fifth inning.
Big Innings
The Roadrunners have definitely proven to be a team that gets stronger at the plate as the game progresses. UTSA has outscored its opponents 85-54 in the fifth and sixth innings this year, while being outscored 82-41 during the third and fourth innings. In the two games at Texas-Pan American this week, the Roadrunners broke out for 15 runs in fifth inning, including 10 on Wednesday. In the 16-10 win over Texas-Arlington on April 17, the Roadrunners scored eight runs in the sixth inning.
Crew Cuts
Junior Ryan Crew continues to make an assault on the UTSA record books in just his third season. He now ranks tied for fifth all-time with 196 career hits. He also ranks fifth now on the career doubles list with 37 and needs only four more to move as high as third. In RBIs, Crew now ranks 10th with 94 and needs just eight to move to ninth. In home runs, his total of 17 ranks him tied for eighth all-time, while his total of seven triples puts him fourth on that stat chart. Crew has 12 hits in his last five games and at least two safeties in all five.
Return of the Man
After missing the first 30 games with injuries, Sophomore Steven Vasquez appears back at full strength after going 5-5 in 2004. He’s made two starts and one relief appearance and posted his first win of the season Tuesday night at UTPA. Vasquez went seven innings and struck out five while only allowing four hits. He also retired 18 of 19 batters during a five-inning stretch. In two starts now, he has given up just seven hits in 11 innings.
His Best Year Yet
Junior J.R. Voyles is having a breakout year for UTSA and ranks sixth in the conference in batting against conference opponents. Overall, Voyles is hitting .341 and ranks second on the team with four homers and 25 RBIs. He already has posted 15 multi-hit games and seven multi-RBI games in 2005. Coming into the season, Voyles was a lifetime .253 hitter with just five career home runs.
Marshal Law
Freshman Marshal Davis made his first career start at second base Wednesday at UTPA and recorded his first three career hits. His first career safety came during a 10-run fifth inning when he singled up the middle. Davis has seen action in eight games in his inaugural collegiate campaign.
Base Path Bandits
UTSA has been successful on the base paths this season with 41 stolen bases in 41 games, an average of one per game. The Roadrunners are 41-of-53 (.436 pct.) overall. Senior Sean Danielson leads the way with 11, while junior Ryan Crew has seven and J.R. Voyles has six. Ryan Saltzgaber has five. In fact, Voyles has been thrown out only once in his career during his freshman year. In 2002, he was 3-for-4. In 2004, he went 8-for-8, and he is 6-for-6 this season, making him 17-for-18 in his three-year Roadrunner career.
RBI Leader
Sophomore Michael McKennon leads the Roadrunners wth 29 RBIs and helped his cause Wednesday with a season, team and career high five.
Roadrunner Rankings
A look at where UTSA players and team rank in this week’s conference stats: Team batting (5th); Team pitching (9th); Team fielding (8th); Individuals: Triples, Ryan Saltzgaber (3rd), Ryan Crew (6th); Stolen bases, Sean Danielson (T-4th); Doubles, Chris Lewis (T-3rd); Saves, Jason Vecchio (T-3rd); Innings, Aaron Rodriguez (2nd); Appearances, Blake Brannon (2nd).
Roadrunners Picked Sixth
UTSA has been tabbed for a sixth place finish in the Southland Conference this year, according the coaches and SID polls taken before the year began.
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