· Diamond notes (.pdf)
Games 9-10 • Feb. 26-27
St. Mary’s (9-3) • Houston (6-6)
6 p.m./6 p.m. • Wolff Stadium • San Antonio, Texas
UTSA Returns Home For Two Games At Wolff Stadium: UTSA (1-7) returns to San Antonio for two games at Nelson W. Wolff Stadium beginning with a 6 p.m. contest on Monday against St. Mary’s. The Roadrunners, coming off a weekend that saw them post a 1-2 record at the Southwest Diamond Classic in Frisco, concludes the abbreviated home stand on Tuesday night against Houston (6 p.m.).
Scouting The Rattlers: St. Mary’s, winners of nine of its last 10 contests, sports a 9-3 record this season. The Rattlers took three of four games against Montana State-Billings last week in a series played from Feb. 20-21. Monday marks the first meeting in six years between the two San Antonio-based schools. The last time the two teams met, St. Mary’s won a 12-8 slugfest at home on Feb. 25, 2001. The Rattlers have drawn even in the all-time series by winning the past two matchups.
Scouting The Cougars: Houston went 2-1 at last weekend’s Southwest Diamond Classic and enters Tuesday’s contest with a 6-6 mark. UTSA and UH played the first game of the tournament last Thursday, with the Cougars picking up a 12-10 victory. Houston now leads the all-time series that dates back to 1992, 12-4, and has won the last eight meetings overall. UTSA’s last victory against the Cougars was a 10-2 home triumph on March 2, 1994 (second game of doubleheader).
Home Away From Home: A fixture on the Roadrunners’ home schedule for more than a decade, UTSA will play five games at Wolff Stadium this season. After the two games this week, the Roadrunners will host the College of Charleston for a three-game series from March 9-11. Built in 1994, it also is home to the San Antonio Missions, the Double A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
Home Cooking: Roadrunner Field and Wolff Stadium were tough places for the opposition to play in 2006, as UTSA registered a school-record 24 home victories. That broke the previous UTSA record of 23 home wins set in 1994. The Roadrunners have posted a 243-173 (.584) all-time home record.
Chasing 400: UTSA’s next victory will be its 400th in school history. In 15-plus years of action, the Roadrunners have compiled 399 all-time wins, an average of nearly 27 per season.
Preseason Polls: UTSA was picked to finish second in the West Division by the sports information directors and third by the league’s coaches in the Preseason SLC Polls. The Roadrunners received five first-place votes in the SID rankings and three in the coaches poll. They were six points (51) behind co-favorites Texas-Arlington and Texas State in the coaches poll and only three (58) behind UTA in the SID poll. Defending regular season champion McNeese State was the consensus choice to defend its regular season title in the East.
Trio Named To Preseason All-SLC Teams: Three Roadrunners were named to the preseason All-SLC teams, as senior pitcher Josh Ruffin and sophomore outfielder Michael Rockett were first-team selections and senior third baseman Ryan Saltzgaber was named to the second team. Ruffin earned first-team accolades a year ago, while Rockett was a second-team honoree and Saltzgaber was an honorable mention selection.
2007 Captains: Senior starting pitcher Josh Ruffin, junior catcher Zach Etheredge and junior shortstop Marshal Davis will serve as the Roadrunners’ team captains this season.
Ruffin On The Career Charts: Senior Josh Ruffin’s name can be found all over the Roadrunners’ career record book. The Humble native is UTSA’s all-time record holder with four career shutouts and he also ranks fifth in victories (15), sixth in innings pitched (253.0), seventh in appearances (68) and complete games (six) and ninth in ERA (4.73) and strikeouts (154).
What’s Back In 2007: UTSA is coming off a season that saw it finish with a 37-22 record (20-10 SLC). The team welcomes back 17 letterwinners — including five position starters and six pitchers — in addition to 19 newcomers this season. Topping the list of returnees are 2006 first-team All-SLC starting pitcher Josh Ruffin, a senior, and Freshman All-America center fielder Michael Rockett. Also back are sophomore second baseman James Keithley and senior third baseman Ryan Saltzgaber, both of whom earned honorable mention accolades a year ago.
Tough Schedule: The Roadrunners’ 55-game schedule is highlighted by six opponents that qualified for the 2006 NCAA Tournament — Baylor, The College of Charleston, Houston, Rice, Texas and Texas-Arlington.
Hit The Lights: For the first time in school history, UTSA will play night games at Roadrunner Field this season. Nine of the team’s 22 contests at the facility will be played under the lights. The Feb. 16 home opener against Louisiana-Lafayette kicked off the night-time action at the “Bird Bath.”
Slick Fielding: Under the direction of seventh-year associate head coach Jason Marshall, who mentors the team’s infielders, UTSA has become one of the best fielding teams in the Southland Conference. Last season, the Roadrunners led the league with a school-record .969 fielding percentage on the strength of just 70 errors, the second-fewest in school history. UTSA has recorded four of the top five fielding seasons in school annals under Marshall’s guidance.
Player Updates
C • Zach Etheredge, Jr. - 2007 tri-captain ... starter in all eight games this year ... team leader in batting average (.333), on-base percentage (.400) and hit by pitch (two) ... also has driven in four base runners ... hitting .450 (9-20) in last six games ... named to Southwest Diamond Classic All-Tournament Team (4-10, 4 R, 4 RBIs).
2B • James Keithley, So. - 2006 honorable mention All-SLC ... is 3-for-10 (.300) with three RBIs since starting the year 2-for-21 (.095) ... starter in all eight games this year.
3B • Ryan Saltzgaber, Sr. - 2007 preseason second-team All-SLC ... starter in all eight contests this year ... hitting .323 with team-best three doubles and three stolen bases ... also has driven in two ... currently on four-game hitting streak (.375/6-16) ... has three multi-hit games this season, including 3-for-5 performance vs. Missouri State (Feb. 24) ... ’06 honorable mention All-SLC.
SS • Marshal Davis, Jr. - 2007 tri-captain ... leadoff hitter has started all eight games and leads team with eight walks and ranks second with a .385 on-base percentage ... also has scored four runs, stroked a pair of doubles and driven a pair of base runners ... has three two-hit games this season.
CF • Michael Rockett, So. - 2007 preseason first-team All-SLC ... hitting .313 with two doubles and six RBIs ... has hit safely in 7-of-8 games this season and has three two-hit games to his credit ... has handled last 116 chances without an error dating back to March 25, 2006 ... ’06 Freshman All-American and second-team All-SLC.
1B/DH • Trent Lockwood, Jr. - Started seven games this year — four at first base and three at DH — and hit safely in every contest ... has the squad’s only three home runs and leads the club in batting average (.333), hits (10), RBIs (eight), total bases (20) and slugging percentage (.667) ... also ranks second with a pair of stolen bases ... has three two-hit games ... named to Southwest Diamond Classic All-Tournament Team (5-14, 3 R, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBIs, SB).
SP • Josh Ruffin, Sr. - 2007 tri-captain and preseason first-team All-SLC ... struck out career-high nine and picked up first victory of year last Friday vs. Gonzaga (Feb. 23) ... ’06 first-team All-SLC ... tossed a SLC-best five complete games and UTSA-record four shutouts last season ... led the team with an 8-3 record and 3.17 ERA in 116.1 innings of work.
SP • Blake Brannon, Sr. - Entered senior season riding UTSA-record 29 scoreless innings streak and extended that stretch to 30 before giving up run against UL-Lafayette on Feb. 16 ... tossed three shutouts a year ago, the second-most in school annals, and went 8-6 with 3.77 ERA in 100.1 innings of work.
SP • Bradley Chovanec, Jr. - Second on the squad with 14 strikeouts ... tossed three scoreless innings in relief and struck out three in the season opener at Rice (Feb. 13) ... made his first career UTSA start on Feb. 17 against Louisiana-Lafayette (5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 K) ... tossed a scoreless inning of relief at Baylor on Feb. 20-and struck out two.
Head Coach Sherman Corbett: With more than 20 years of playing and coaching experience, Sherman Corbett is in his seventh season at the helm of UTSA’s baseball program. The winningest coach in school history (176 victories), Corbett led the Roadrunners to 37 victories a year ago, the second-most in school history. In his first six seasons, he has coached a pair of 30-win squads and 24 All-SLC players, including seven first-teamers. Corbett also has mentored the 2001 SLC Pitcher of the Year (Jared Howton), 2002 SLC Player and Hitter of the Year (Mark Schramek), 2003 SLC Freshman of the Year (Ryan Crew) and two Freshman All-Americans — Crew (2003) and Michael Rockett (2006). Twelve of his Roadrunners have gone on to professional careers.
