| Junior Michael Rockett ranks second in the country with his 23 doubles. |
SAN ANTONIO ? UTSA returns to the friendly confines of Roadrunner Field this weekend when it begins a five-game home stand with three Southland Conference contests against Nicholls State.
First pitch in Friday's opener is slated for 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday's tilts are scheduled for 2 and 1 p.m., respectively. UTSA's seven-member senior class ? Phillip Allen, Bradley Chovanec, Zach Etheredge, Trent Lockwood, Mark Ruffin, Steven Vasquez and Josh Wilson ? will be honored prior to the series finale.
The first two contests can be heard live on goUTSA.com with a Rowdy Zone subscription. Regular home play-by-play man David Griffith will call the action on Friday night and Ed Suarez will broadcast Saturday's game. All three tilts can be followed on Jump TV's Game Watcher.
The Roadrunners (34-14, 18-6 SLC) return to the Bird Bath for the first time since April 27 having won six in a row and 14 of the last 15 games overall at their on-campus facility. In fact, UTSA's last loss at Roadrunner Field was a 14-7 setback to UT Arlington on March 30. A victory on Friday night would give the Roadrunners 16 wins at the Bird Bath for the third season in a row and UTSA has posted a 47-11 (.810) mark since 2006 at the facility.
The Roadrunners currently lead Lamar (16-8 SLC) by two games in the race for the regular season championship and their magic number to clinch their second title in a row stands at five. The Cardinals will square off against Northwestern State (14-9) in a key series this weekend at Brown Stroud Field in Natchitoches. UTSA, meanwhile, has a three-game edge on Sam Houston State (15-9) in the West Division standings and it holds the tiebreaker by virtue of its three-game sweep at the Bird Bath two weeks ago. I-35 rival Texas State is four contests back at 14-10 and it will play the Birds in a three-game, home-and-home series to end the regular season next week (May 15-17).
The Colonels, 9-39 overall and 4-20 SLC play, entered last weekend's series at UT Arlington having dropped 15 of their last 16 games, but they won the final two contests by scores of 6-5 and 3-0 after losing the opener, 7-6.
Vasquez (7-3, 5.05 ERA) will get the nod in the opener and he will be opposed by Colonels right-hander Jake Parrish (1-4, 6.32). Chovanec (7-3, 4.88) will make his final home start on Saturday and he will square off against righty Bryan Myers (2-4, 5.56), who tossed a five-hit shutout at UT Arlington last Saturday. Junior southpaw Kris Ruepke (5-2, 4.68) looks to continue his hot streak in Sunday's finale. The Adel, Iowa, native has won his last four decisions dating back to April 2 and has posted a perfect 3-0 record to go along with a 2.14 ERA, two complete games and a shutout since entering the weekend rotation on April 13. Right-hander Joe Hagerty (0-0, 4.76) will make his second start of the year for Nicholls State.
UTSA's offense continues to rank among the nation's elite. The Roadrunners have scored 393 runs this season and are averaging 8.2 per contest. Those figures rank 20th and 24th, respectively, in the country. The Birds also rank 25th in the NCAA in winning percentage (.708) and 31st in hits (533).
Junior center fielder Michael Rockett continues to lead way for the Roadrunners. The Sugar Land native is hitting a team-best .376 with a UTSA single-season record-tying 23 doubles, which ranks second in the nation. The Dick Howser Trophy candidate (nation's top player) also has five triples, seven home runs, 61 RBIs and eight stolen bases in addition to making several highlight-reel catches the past three weeks.
Senior first baseman Trent Lockwood, the Roadrunners' clean-up hitter, leads the squad with 11 homers and 62 RBIs. The Groesbeck native, who also has 18 two-baggers, continues to rank among the top 10 nationally in runs batted in. Lockwood also is a candidate for National Player of the Year honors, as he is a member of the Wallace Award's mid-season watch list.
When teamed with sophomore designated hitter Tim Palincsar's 50 RBIs, UTSA's 2-3-4 hitters (Palincsar/Rockett/Lockwood) have combined to bring home 173, or 44 percent, of the squad's runs this year.
Palincsar is hitting .358 with eight bombs (both second on the club) and he is tied with Lockwood for the team lead with 38 walks. Meanwhile, junior shortstop James Keithley, the squad's leadoff hitter, owns a .355 batting average, has scored 61 times (13th NCAA) and swiped a team-leading 13 bases.
Following this weekend's series, the Roadrunners will host Houston on Tuesday, May 13, before wrapping home their home slate with a 6 p.m. tilt two days later against Texas State. The regular season comes to an end on May 16-17 at Bobcat Field in San Marcos.