Mark Ruffin: In his words

Senior right-handed pitcher Mark Ruffin, in his fourth and final season as a Roadrunner in 2008, finishes his weekly blog about the ins and outs of the two-time defending Southland Conference Championship baseball team for goUTSA.com today. The Humble native saw action in 74 games during his career, pitched in 136.2 innings and posted a 9-6 record with 102 strikeouts.

Tuesday, May 27
Well folks, here it is, my last blog of the 2008 season. Unfortunately, it's a little sooner than I would have liked.

We couldn’t find a way to win the SLC Tournament last week, but I’m not going to take this time to talk about the games that we won or lost. Rather, I’m going to take this time to say my good byes and farewells to a program that I will never forget.

First of all, thanks to all of you who read this all season long. I'm not sure who read it, kept up with us and wanted to hear from me each week, but thank you very much for shaking my hand and telling me that you enjoyed reading this column. I really do appreciate that.

The best coaches in the Southland Conference reside right here at UTSA. I know for a fact there isn’t another coach in the profession that cares about their players as much as our staff does. Thank you for taking a chance on me, who as a senior at Humble High, was a 5-foot-9, 155-pound (that might even be a little generous) right-hander who couldn’t break glass with his fastball but could throw a knuckleball that moved around a little bit. I wouldn’t be where I am today if Coach Corbett didn’t given me the opportunity to play here.

This is going to be the part that is truly hard to write.

To my teammates ? my family away from home ? I will never forget any one of you. I know I will wake up 15 years down the road and have those goosebumps run down my spine and the memory of the dogpiles replaying in my head. I have learned so much from y'all and hope I might have been able to teach y'all something too. I can sit here and say something about each and every one of you, but my blog can’t be that long. Guys know that something special is happening here.

The foundation has been laid by guys before me. The Lee Tedescoes, JR Voyles, Josh Ruffins, Robby Johns, Aaron Rodriguezes, Trent Lockwoods, Blake Brannons and Brandon Kogers, along with a multitude of others I could go on and on talking about, have put this program on the map. Championships are won here and it's as simple as that. We have set the bar to where anything less is a disappointment. Coach Marshall said it best when he told us to starting putting the walls up on this foundation and building it bigger and better. We are finding a way to get to that elusive goal of 40 wins and a spot in regional play. I will be in the stands playing every pitch, every out, right next to you, I promise you that.

My fellow seniors, thank you. There isn’t another group of guys I’d rather be associated with than you six. We’ve done something special here. No one can ever take that away from us. Trophies and plaques carry dust, but the relationships, the memories and the bonds you make last forever. I will miss you dearly, but it's time to open another chapter to our book. It's time to take what we’ve learned from our careers on the baseball field and see what we can do in the real world. Bring it on, we’re ready! I’ll always have this group of guys close to my heart. Thank you very much for sticking through the season with us. Thirty-nine wins are a lot and, oh yeah, we also have three rings in the last four years. That’s not too shabby. I was beginning to run out of fingers to put them on.

So for the final time in my career, I say to all of you ... GO RUNNERS!!!

Quote for the week
"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next."
? Gilda Radner


Tuesday, May 20
This week for us was not quite the week we were expecting or looking for. We won one game and lost three this week, two to Texas State and one to Houston. I can’t remember the last time we were under .500 for a week, so guess that’s kind of a good statistic not to be able to remember.

First of all, I want to congratulate James Keithley. He broke the single-season record for runs scored on Thursday night when he hit a lead-off homer in the first inning. It was his 67th of the year and he had to have a lot of help from the other guys in the lineup, but he took care of that record-breaking run himself. It has seemed to be one of those years where a lot of records have fallen.

Bradley Chovanec picked up another SLC Pitcher of the Week honor for his outing against Texas State on Friday night in our only win of the week. Congrats to B-Rad. I tell you what, there isn’t near as much to talk about when you lose games or at least not as much you want to talk about, so I’ll just skip to the upcoming tournament.

I find myself traveling to my fourth consecutive conference tournament this morning in Hunstville. Looking back to when our coaching staff took over at UTSA, it was a far-fetched idea to think of the Roadrunners making the conference tournament yet alone being the No. 1 seed. On top of that, it will be our second straight year to be able to say we are the top seed. That is a credit to Coach Corbett, Coach Marshall, Coach Clement and Coach Lawler and the group of guys we have here and the guys that have come before us. I am proud to be where we are.

Even though we might be the No. 1 seed, we all know that NOTHING we did for the past 10 weeks matters. It doesn’t matter who we beat or who beat us. Everyone is starting from scratch come 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. No one has a winning or losing record. We must play with a passion and fire that none of our competitors can match. All us seniors know we could be staring down the barrel of our last games in a Roadrunners uniform or even our last games in any uniform. I guarantee we will fight with everything we have.

Funny thing I remember about last year. It always seems that when guys are done playing they tend to pack on some extra weight, due to the lack of everyday exercise they got from playing. I told the coaches last year we might want to play all the seniors (it was the game we were playing Sam Houston State facing elimination) because they would play the hardest, knowing they not only were fighting for the end of their careers but also against the onset of obesity. My brother , Josh, and Josh Blakley didn’t like that very much but only because they knew it was true.

Anyways, we’ll see how things go in this tournament that anyone can win. Hopefully, it will be us and we'll be off to an NCAA Regional next weekend.

Quote for the week
“Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles to watch you burn.”
? John Wesley


Tuesday, May 13
Well, I am very excited to write this week’s blog. This was a historic week for us, as we claimed our second consecutive Southland Conference Regular Season Championship. Back-to-Back Champions, it just sounds good. I couldn’t have asked for a better day to clinch the conference title. It was my senior day, as well as Mother’s Day. One of our former UTSA players from California, Mitch Ponza, was in town and that was another reason it was a great weekend to clinch. For him to be able to see us win it was nice. I’ve caught myself the last 48 hours driving in my car or sitting in my room and just saying those words to myself and letting it sink in.

Nicholl’s State came into town and, as a four-year guy, I know it has never been an easy task for us to beat them. Regardless of what their record is, they always play us extremely tough and it is a battle. Going into Sunday’s game, we knew that if we took care of our business and got some help from Northwestern State the championship would be ours. We were a little worried that if we won our game and the Lamar/Northwestern game took a long time, maybe even going into extra innings, that we would find out that we were champions when we were all separate at our apartments or dorms, which would not have been an exciting way to celebrate. However, things played out perfectly for us. We knew in the bottom of the eighth inning that Northwestern had won and we were three outs away from capturing our second title in as many years. It was kind of interesting because all the guys in the dugout knew and I believe seven of the nine guys on the field knew we were three outs away. The only two that didn’t have a clue were Zach Etheredge and Zach Calhoon. After we charged the field in triumph, they were kind of puzzled, but apparently they picked up on the fact that we had just won the league and joined in the celebration.

It is going to be nice playing Texas State this weekend knowing there is nothing they can do to take away our championship. I want to tell the redshirts and injured guys that have headed home for summer "congratulations" because they are just as much of this championship as the guys that were on the field and we wish they could have been there next to us to raise up the No. 1 in the picture.

I have to say that this year's championship feels a little different. Last year felt like a culminating point of our season, like it couldn’t get any better than that moment. This year, it feels like there still is something bigger and better waiting for us. There are still goals out there that our still within our reach. We expect to reach them and are going to do everything in our power to reach them.

One last thing I was happy about was that we got Coach Corbett with the water cooler, but to be honest, I almost forgot about it. My brother, Josh, asked if we had got him yet, so I had to round up Steven Vasquez to get him his cold, celebratory shower.

I also want to say congratulations to the men’s track & field team. They won the second outdoor conference championship in the history of their program and made it a clean sweep this year by taking both indoor and outdoor titles. Congrats guys.

Talk to you next week before we start postseason play at the conference tournament in Huntsville.

Quote for the week
"After the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and all the pomp and fanfare has faded, the enduring things that are left are: the dedication to excellence, the dedication to victory and the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live."
? Vince Lombardi


Wednesday, May 7
I’m back to talk about another week of Roadrunner Baseball, a week which consisted of a lot of bus riding.

We went to Houston to play the Cougars on Wednesday night. It was nice for most of us because there are a lot of Houston-based guys on the team. It gave us an opportunity to play in front of family and friends who might not get to see us play as regularly as they wished. I also have to say that having Ray Redding along on this trip just made it extra special to me (happy now, Ray?).

The game was hard-fought through all 12 innings. We battled and fought against every arm they threw out at us and found a way to win the ballgame. It was another huge win against a quality program on the road. I won’t mention anything about the extracurricular activities that occurred on the field because I don’t feel that it’s my place.

We got back on the bus to our cold McDonald’s, which was hot and ready for us had our game lasted the intended nine innings. Since it went 12, most of our McDonald’s was below our expectations, but then again, we are college guys and we’ll eat just about anything. Another interesting story is how I woke up from the bus ride about halfway home with a whole handful of shaving cream in my ear and hair and the back half of the bus laughing hysterically. You would think being a senior would make me safe when it comes to bus ride pranks, but apparently everyone is fair game.We rolled into campus about 3:30 a.m. just to go home, catch a couple hours sleep before for a mandatory meeting and we were on the road again at 11:30 a.m. for Corpus Christi.

Corpus was a tough weekend for us. They were a team we felt that we should have played well against. We ended up handing them Friday night’s game, as well as Saturday’s game. Their pitcher on Friday night was pretty impressive, as he struck out 14, so you have to tip your hat to him.

We knew we had to change the momentum and tempo of the game on Sunday. We had been trying to keep up with them the previous two days and we had to make them play our game. This is exactly what we did. The hitters found their swings and rattled off eleven runs and Kris Ruepke shut down their hot bats and only allowed two runs. It felt good knowing that we avoided the sweep on the road and we were heading back to San Antonio on a good note. A goal that disappeared this weekend was to beat our record setting mark last year of 24-6 in league play. Now we can only tie that.

We are going to take this week to hit the books hard and take care of our finals and be prepared to get after Nicholl’s State when they roll into town on Friday. I’d like to say congratulations to my older brother, Josh, who is graduating with a mechanical engineering degree this Saturday. Most of you already know who he is. It’s a pretty impressive accomplishment to graduate with an ME degree in five years after playing four years of baseball. Congrats Ruff. Now it's time to start the real world. That's all for this week. Take care.

Quote for the week
"Success is never permanent and failure is never final."
? Mike Ditka


Tuesday, April 29
Hey there. How’s everybody doing? I’m back to talk about a great week of Roadrunner Baseball.

This was a huge week, with wins at No. 25 Texas and a sweep of conference foe Sam Houston State. I am extremely proud of the way we took care of business in between the lines.

We rolled into Austin on Wednesday looking to pick up a big win on the road against a Big 12 school. We knew we were good enough to go toe-to-toe with them if we played clean baseball and that’s exactly what we did.

Ryan Proudfoot threw an absolute gem of a baseball game. He was very impressive the way he took control of the game and had those Longhorns eating out of his hand. Big home runs from Michael Rockett, Trent Lockwood and Zach Etheredge helped us get the lead and we never look back. Wins like this one help us inch closer to our goal ofan at-large bid, if not an automatic berth, into a regional. Unfortunately, James Keithley’s UTSA-record 27 game hitting streak came to an end. I was very proud of what he accomplished and 27 games is an ridiculous amount of games to hit safely in. My hat goes off to James.

This weekend, Sam Houston State rolled into town two games behind us in the standings. We knew they were hot on our heels and were one of the best hitting teams in the league. This was either going to be a weekend to put some ground in between us and the Bearkats or a weekend that could find us sharing first or losing it all together. It's a good thing we took care of business. Trent Lockwood hit one of the most ridiculous homers I’ve ever seen on Friday night. It was the farthest ball I think I’ve ever seen hit. Once he hit it, I just dropped my jaw in complete astonishment. Friday night was a slugfest in which the hitters constantly put up runs against their best arm and we found a way to shut down their offense just long enough to regain the lead and have Zach Calhoon come in to shut the door for a huge win.

On Saturday, we sent Bradley Chovanec to the bump and he effectively shut them down through 7.1 innings. I knew it was going to be a good day for Chavo when he ran off the mound after the top of the first and he said, “Hey, having fun today boys.” Coming from a guy as quiet as Brad, it was a sign that he was locked in and ready to get to work. After that, I knew it would be a long day for Sam Houston State. Aaron Powell hit a big home run just to the right field side of the center field wall. It was great picking up the series win on Saturday.

Kris Ruepke went back to work on Sunday and carved up the Bearkats for seven innings on a day which saw the wind gusting up to 25 miles-per-hour. I definitely need to give a shout out to our great field crew which consisted of Kevin Clarke. He did a great job of hosing down the home plate area in the top of the sixth to settle the dirt, which was flying all over the field. Clarke makes us proud day in and day out, as well as keeps us laughing. Anyways, on a day that was going to be tough to produce runs, the hitters found ways to get it done. They scratched and clawed runs across anyway they could and got the job done.

This week we travel to Houston. It will be nice to go to my hometown and play in front of family and friends. I think this is a great opportunity for us because UH is a good team and they are getting national recognition. Hopefully, we can go in there and pick up a big win on the road before heading to Robstown to play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this weekend.

Y'all take care and I’ll talk to you next week.

Quote for the week
"I never expect to lose. Even when I'm the underdog, I still prepare a victory speech."
? H. Jackson Brown Jr.


Tuesday, April 22
How’s everyone doing? I am back to talk about another prettysuccessful week of Roadrunner Baseball. We went to Beaumont for twomid-week, non-conference games against Lamar and we split with them.

Ryan Proudfoot threw a great first game for us, picking up his firstcareer complete game. The second game was another pitcher’s dual with AndyBenedict only surrendering two runs, but we just couldn’t wake the bats upto push that tying run across the plate. It happens like thatsometimes. The hitters struggle and the pitching is there, and then thepitching will struggle and the hitters are there to pick us up.

Over the weekend, we hosted Stephen F. Austin in an SLCshowdown at the Bird Bath. Steven Vasquez picked up his league-leading seventh win of the season and the hitters pushed across nine runs on thenight. I’m not sure if Steve wore hissocks or Rockett’s socks on Friday night, I should’ve asked him. Regardless of what was on his feet, he threw another gem. It is crazyhow superstitious us baseball players are, me included. Some guysdoodle initials or crosses in the dirt, some will not wash theirsliders or maybe their socks all weekend, others will button or unbuttoncertain buttons of their jersey. I’m pretty sure everyone showersregularly, so that’s definitely a good thing.

The Lumberjacks really coming outand swinging the bats well on Saturday. The only problem for them was that our hitterscouldn’t be slowed down. We piled run after run on top of them throughoutthe game. Freshman Tyler Carpenter hit his first careerhome run, so congratulations to him. Ryan Rummelhad the biggest hit of the game with his first career grand slam. With theoffense’s help, we picked up the win and Zach Calhoon picked up yet anothersave.

On Sunday, it was once again the Iowa show. Kris Ruepke completely shutdown the SFA offense and held them to only three hits all game. It was his second consecutive complete game and, let me tell you, it almostlooked effortless the way he was throwing. I couldn’t tell if he broke asweat or not. Ruepke was named Southland ConferencePitcher of the Week on Monday, so congrats to him.

We head to the state capital on Wednesday to play UT. We realize what a greatopportunity this is for us and are ready to take on the challenge. The weekend will bring in Sam Houston State, which is sitting two games behind usin the standings, so it will be another huge series for us. Hope tosee y’all out at the games.

Quote for the week
"Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting."
? Napoleon Hill


Monday, April 14
Another week has gone by and it was pretty phenomenal. We didn’t have a midweek game, so we got some good practice in, not to mention it gave the pitchers a chance to play home-run derby. I think Zach Calhoon ended up winning, but only because I didn’t get to hit. I had to go to class.

We traveled to Natchitoches, La., this past weekend to play Northwestern State. We knew it was going to be a challenge because all three of their starting pitchers were ranked among the league leaders in ERA.

We got another great outing from Steven Vasquez on Friday night and that probably had something to do with him wearing Michael Rockett’s socks. Don’t ask me how a fifth-year senior can forget to pack socks, but I bet he doesn’t give them back after throwing so well in them. Trent Lockwood and Tim Palincsar both hit home runs and Calhoon came in to record the final four outs for his seventh save of the year.

On Saturday, the hitters beat up Northwestern starter Heath Hennigan and chased him from the game in the second inning. We knew they were thin in the bullpen, so we liked our chances. Sure enough, our hitters continued to put up numbers and the combination of Bradley Chovanec, J.P. Holton, myself and Calhoon got the job done on the bump to pick up the 11-9 win. Calhoon got his eighth save to tie the single-season record held by Lucas Stewart (2003) and Noah Tritz (2006). The kid just continues to get the job done in the late innings.

It was all about the state of Iowa on Sunday, as Kris Ruepke made his first conference start of the year. He kept the Demons hitters off balance the entire game and was backed by Lockwood, who added two more bombs, and Aaron Powell, who added one of his own, in the 12-2 win. James Keithley picked up a big hit in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 22 games, which is the second-longest in school history. He is nipping on the heels of former teammate J.R. Voyles, who hit safely in 23 contests in a row two years ago.

After a little help from Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana this weekend, we are now in sole possession of first place in the Southland Conference standings at the midpoint of the season. I don't think we can ask for anymore than that. Now, we hold our fate in our hands, but we know they don’t hand out trophies or rings at the halfway point. We have to play the second half better than we played the first if we want to defend our title.

We head to Beaumont on Tuesday to play league foe Lamar in two non-conference match ups. I’ll be back next week to talk more about that series and the weekend three-game set against Stephen F. Austin at the Bird Bath. Yes, we finally get to play at home after three weeks away. That will be nice.

Take care, have a great week and go Runners!

Quote for the week
“First, they ignore you. Second, they laugh at you. Third, they fight you. Finally, you win.”
? Gandhi


Wednesday, April 9
Hope everything is going well with y'all. I’m back to talk about this past week of Roadrunner Baseball. It was a huge week for us with four games on the road.

I found myself at Baylor Ballpark last Wednesday, which was the site of our 2005 NCAA Regional appearance. I got goosebumps and was overwhelmed with some memories when I saw the “2005 Regional Baseball Tournament” banner hanging in the visitors dressing area. "UT-San Antonio" was in big white letters and, as I sat underneath it, I began to remember all those guys that made the trip and were a part of that memorable year. Since I’ve been here, we’ve always played Baylor well but never been able to pick up a win. That all changed on Wednesday night. We had an outstanding pitching performance from our Iowa boy, Kris Ruepke, and the hitters were on fire. Zach Etheredge hit a towering home run to seal the deal for us and put us up big in the late innings. It sure did feel good to finally pick up that win for the program. Things only got better after the game when Groesbeck nation fed us some delicious bar-b-que.

After our big win in Waco, we made the trip to Hammond, La. We knew they were going to have tough pitching and be really aggressive and creative on the basepaths. We got off to a great start on Friday before the rain began to fall and the game had to be suspended until Saturday. Steven Vasquez gave us a gutsy performance and came back Saturday to finish what he had started the day before and Zach Calhoon came in to pick up his 12th career save, breaking Lucas Stewart's career record. Bradley Chavonec kept the Lions hitters guessing and grounding out the second game and threw his third complete game of the season. The hitters did a great job against quality arms, scratching runs when they could and giving Brad some breathing room.

On Sunday, we saw their No. 1 pitcher again, a guy who will probably get drafted high in the upcoming MLB Draft. We did what we could but just couldn’t get rolling in time to overcome the two-run deficit.

We don’t have a midweek game this week, so it will be good to get some good quality practice in and give some of the pitchers a break. I’ll be back next week to talk about our Northwestern State series, which is going to be huge considering they are sitting ahead of us in the standings.

Before I go, I’d like to give a quick shout out to my mother and aunt. Both are going to be having surgery, my mother this week and my aunt very soon, and I want them to know I wish I could be there to help them through it. Not to fear, though, as they are both in good hands and I love them both dearly. Take care and talk to you soon.

Quote for the week
"Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish."
? Jean De La Fontaine


Tuesday, April 1
I’m back to continue my weekly thoughts about the ongoing season. As of today, we find ourselves at 6-3 in the Southland Conference and 18-10 overall coming off our weekend series with UT Arlington.

We had a couple midweek games last week against the Texas A&M Aggies on Tuesday and Prarie View A&M the next day.

Tuesday’s game was a hard-fought battle with the 20th-ranked team in the country. We had several chances to win the ballgame and even led for most of the game. Our problems came when we let them hang around instead of extending our lead in the middle innings. You can’t let a team as good as A&M hang around and nibble at the lead, because they always tend to find a way to end up winning in the end.

Wednesday’s game was a record-setting day for us in quite a few categories. It’s always nice to see your teammates be successful and tie or even break records. Trent Lockwood broke the single-game RBIs record and tied the home runs and runs scored marks. Jose Hernandez also tied a record with his three doubles. Our pitching was solid and we were able to give the younger guys another chance to get some work, which is always good.

UTA rolled into town and we knew we needed to have a big weekend before we hit the road for the next two weeks.

We won Friday night's game behind a strong pitching performance from Steven Vasquez and solid hitting at the plate. Zach Calhoon tied the program's career saves record in the win and that's pretty impressive considering the kid is only a sophomore. Who knows what his career total will be when he is finally done here, but I have a pretty good feeling it's going to be a big number.

On Saturday, Bradley Chovanec threw his second complete game of the season and we clinched the series with a steady dose of runs in the middle innings.

Sunday was a tough game. We started slow, got hot in the middle, but it was too late, as UTA put a seven-spot up in the ninth inning. Our pitchers didn’t seem to have their best stuff, me included, and our bats just couldn’t quite overcome the hump. The best part about that game is that it’s over and we are moving on.

Hopefully, we can get on a roll on the road on Wednesday night when we go to Waco to face national power Baylor. That game marks the beginning of a season-long nine-game road trip for us. We then head to the Bayou State to face Southeastern Louisiana in a three-game SLC series this weekend. I’ll check back in next week and hope to have good news to share.

Quote for the week
"If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it."
? Paul "Bear" Bryant


Sunday, March 23
How’s it going, Roadrunner fans? I’m back to talk about this past week. We’ve were in Conway, Ark., playing Central Arkansas. It was a rough weekend for us, as we lost the first two games, but we came back to win Saturday to avoid the sweep.

UCA really came out ready to play and protect their home turf.

On Friday, I was never so proud of a loss in my entire life. I wasn't proud that we lost but of how we battled and competed in the game. We had guys in positions they hadn’t been at in a long time or had never been before at all. They played their tails off and left nothing on the field. It was good to see guys like Phillip Allen and Brett Aguilar in the lineup and knowing we still had a chance to win the ballgame shows how deep our team is this season.

UCA jumped to an early lead on Friday and our sticks didn’t wake up until late in the game and the deficit was just a little too big to overcome.

We knew Saturday was a must win because you always want to avoid a sweep in conference play. Ryan Proudfoot came out and threw a gem. He stayed ahead of the hitters and limited his walks, so when he did end up giving up a hit or two, it didn’t hurt him. Zach Calhoon came in and closed out the last three innings. It seems like when he is on and throwing strikes, he is unhittable. One-run wins always come up big later in the season when you're competing for a championship. It’s always easy to win the blowouts, but it always seems like the close ones end up haunting you in the long run when you lose them.

One exciting thing about the week was seeing UTSA on ESPN2 and hearing the analysts talk about the women’s basketball team as they prepared to face off against Texas A&M. Even though they lost, we are all proud as can be of those girls and they had an outstanding season.

That's all for now. Have a Happy Easter and I'll be back after next weekend's big home series against UTA. Hope to see y'all out at the Bird Bath.

Quote for the week
"You can do anything you wish to do, have anything you wish to have, be anything you wish to be."
? Robert Collier


Wednesday, March 19
I’m back and we’re coming off a sweep of McNeese State to open conference last weekend. We knew we had to play McNeese hard in order to take all three games and come out and play each game with the same intensity. We couldn’t let them hang around in games and give them more chances than they earned. All three starters turned in great performances and made it easy on the hitters to be comfortable at the plate. That meant not too much work for the bullpen. With us playing six games in five days and nine in nine, it always helps to give the bullpen a rest when we can.

Texas came into town on Monday night and we were excited for opportunity to compete against a nationally-ranked team again. We know we can play with them and the game was never out of reach until the later innings. We had an opportunity to let some freshmen pitchers get some work against good hitters and see how they battle on the mound. The box score might not show it, but the older guys know that Chris Griffin and Matt Crocker made pretty big steps in their outings.

Tuesday we faced off against Texas-Pan American at the Bird Bath. On a day that the weather couldn’t ever really decide on a steady climate, we won two games that we expected to win. The highlight of day definitely came in the eighth inning of game two when sophomore walk-on catcher Thomas Diamond got his first collegiate at bat and he ended up catching the final inning of the game. Diamond is a guy who shows up each and every day and works his tail off. He never complains about his role on the team and does his job to the best of his ability. When he began his walk to the plate, everyone in the dugout was on their feet with the same excitement, nervousness, anxiousness and overwhelming feeling that we all knew Thomas was experiencing. To be honest, it might seem small and insignificant to some, but seeing Thomas at the plate is one of the highlights of my UTSA career and I’m proud to be able to say that I was there. I think it made some of the guys appreciate their roles a little more and put some things into perspective.

Anyway we have Central Arkansas this weekend and we are looking to be a perfect 6-0 in conference play after this week. We know it’s not going to come easy, but if we play good baseball and play hard, it’s definitely possible. I’ll be back next week. Until then y'all take care and have a Happy Easter. Go Runners!!

Quote for the week
"Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines."
? Satchel Paige


Monday, March 10
First and foremost, allow me to introduce myself so y'all will know who is writing this blog each week. I’m Mark Ruffin, a senior pitcher from Humble. I’ve been at UTSA for four years now and am excited to have my senior season underway. It’s been an amazing ride the last three years and I'm expecting to walk away on a high note with another SLC Championship.

Right now, we’re sitting at 9-4 after our weekend in Charletson, S.C. We’ve recorded big wins against No. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette, Army, Kansas State and the College of Charleston and already have had a seven-game winning streak this season.

We knew it was a going to be a big series for us because the College of Charleston is a regional-caliber team every year. We had a lot of confidence going in, but the weather definitely played a role in how the series played out. On Saturday, any pop fly hit from center to right field ended up on the other side of the fence, so one word described the games ... SLUGFEST. The weather was a little better yesterday. (Bradley) Chovanec gave us a chance towin, but we just couldn’t come up with a big hit when we needed it late in thegame. We never stopped fighting and battling, which is always good to see.

One side note about the trip. There were three first-time fliers on Thursday ... Bradley Chovanec, Trent Lockwood and Ryan Rummel. I think Trent had the most trouble. He didn’t seem to like the turbulence and he kept the cabin laughing most of the flight. Everything was smooth until we made our descent into Charleston. I guess you could call it a descent, but a controlled fall might be a more accurate description. We slammed into the runway harder than any flight any of us had ever been on. It sent cell phones flying into the air and woke Thomas Diamond out of a dead sleep and scared the living day lights out of him. It was hysterical.

We have a pretty busy week ahead of us, as Northern Illinois comes to the Roadrunner Field for a doubleheader on Tuesday. We then start up conference play and our road to another SLC Championship with a three-game series against McNeese State this weekend. It’s going to be good to get back to the friendly confines of the Bird Bath. I’ll be back next week. Go Runners!