UTSA Roadrunners (3-1) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (1-3)
Game 5 ? Tuesday, Feb. 24 ? 6:30 p.m.
Whataburger Field (7,050) ? Corpus Christi, Texas
Probable starting pitching matchup (W-L, ERA. IP, K)
7 Marc Gomez, lhp (0-0, 9.00, 2.0, 2) vs. Roy Ferdin, lhp (1-0, 2.57, 7.0, 2)
Probable UTSA starting lineup (BA, R, HR, RBI, SB)
1. R 14 Tyler Carpenter, rf (.412, 3, 0, 2, 1)
2. R 5 Ryan Rummel, c (.158, 1, 0, 4, 0)
3. R 1 Michael Rockett, cf (.412, 4, 1, 2, 1)
4. R 13 Aaron Powell, lf (.471, 7, 2, 5, 1)
5. R 22 Jose Hernandez, dh (.357, 6, 1, 5, 2)
6. R 23 Ryan Hutson, 2b (.357, 4, 0, 4, 0)
7. R 17 Lance Brown, 3b (.118, 2, 0, 2, 1)
8. R 29 Matthew James, 1b (.200, 2, 0, 1, 0)
9. S 10 Marshal Davis, ss (.333, 3, 0, 4, 0)
Leading off:
? Tuesday's game will be a non-conference matchup. The two squads will play a three-game SLC series at Roadrunner Field from March 27-29.
? The contest is the first of a five-game road trip for the Roadrunners
? UTSA picked up its first season-opening win in nine years with its 8-5 victory against San Francisco on Friday night
? The Roadrunners are the consensus preseason favorite to win its third consecutive Southland Conference Regular Season Championship
? UTSA returns 22 letterwinners, 10 pitchers and six positionstarters from last year's squad that tied a school record with 39 wins
?Two-time defending SLC Coach of the Year Sherman Corbett has led theprogram to three league titles in the last four years (two regularseason/one tournament)
? Michael Rockett and Zach Calhoon are preseason All-Americans
?Four players were named to the conference's preseason teams (Rockett& Calhoon first team/Aaron Powell & Ryan Proudfoot second team)
Series history: UTSA leads 16-15, but the Islanders have won four of the last five matchups.
On the Web: A free audio stream of all 55 of UTSA's games will be carried live courtesy of Yahoo! Sports this season. Brian Hernandez will call all the action on Tuesday night. Live stats also will be available at no cost for every contest the Roadrunners play this spring on goUTSA.com Beginning with the March 24 tilt against Texas-Pan American, video streamingwill be available for Rowdy Zone subscribers for 16 selected home gamesat Roadrunner Field (March 27-29 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi;April 9-11 vs. Northwestern State; April 13 vs. Dallas Baptist; April17-19 vs. Lamar; May 2-3 vs. Texas State; May 14-16 vs. CentralArkansas).
Homecoming: Freshman Marc Gomez will make the first start of his collegiate career on Tuesday night in his hometown of Corpus Christi. A standout performer at Moody High School, the southpaw was a two-time first-team prep All-American and the 2007-08 Texas 4A Player of the Year. As a junior, he recorded a 13-1 mark with a 0.67 ERA and 127 strikeouts in leading Moody to the 2007 UIL 4A State Championship. Gomez started the state semifinal contest against Canyon Randall and fanned 11 hitters.
Powell powering Roadrunners: Senior Aaron Powell is off to a powerful start to kick off the 2009 campaign. The Midland native is hitting .471 (8-for-17) with two doubles, a pair of home runs, fiveRBIs and seven runs scored. He also has recorded a .941 slugging percentageand .526 on-base average in leading UTSA to three wins in four games. The preseason second-team All-SLC selection opened the year with three consecutive multi-hit games, which extended his hitting streak to 14 games dating back to May 3, 2008 (the streak came to an end on Sunday). His top performance came in Saturday’s nightcap when he went 3-for-5 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs in the Roadrunners’ 12-3 victory.
Preseason All-Americans:Senior center fielder Michael Rockett and junior closer Zach Calhoonboth have earned preseason All-America honors from multipleorganizations. Rockett, who became the program's first-ever second-teamhonoree last spring, was selected to the National Collegiate BaseballWriters Association's first team and Collegiate Baseball's third team. Calhoon, meanwhile, earned third-team accolades from both the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball.
National Player of the Year candidate:Preseason All-American Michael Rockett has been named to the BrooksWallace and NCBWA's Dick Howser Award watch lists, both of which honorthe nation's top player. The Sugar Land native began his candidacy by hitting .412 (7-for-17) with a homer and two RBIs in last weekend's four-game series with San Francisco. He is coming off a junior campaign thatsaw him hit .360 with a UTSA-record 25 doubles, five triples, 10 homeruns and 68 RBIs. He also scored 60 runs, stole nine bases and threwout seven runners at the plate from center field.
Stopper of the Year candidate: Junior closer ZachCalhoon was one of 40 relief pitchers named to the NCBWA's Stopper ofthe Year watch list a week ago. The Spring native saved two of UTSA’s three wins against San Francisco over the weekend. The right-hander set down the Dons in order and fanned two in Friday’s 8-5 victory and came back two days later with another two-strikeout performance in finishing off the Roadrunners’ 6-3 triumph. The pair of saves pushed his UTSA career record to 21. He saved an SLC-best 13 games ayear ago, a mark that ranked eighth nationally (NCAA's third-bestreturning total). Calhoon also posted a 4-1 record with a 1.54 ERA and 54strikeouts in 41 innings of work (26 appearances).
Duo among nation's best:On pace to break nearly every hitting record in school annals, seniorcenter fielder Michael Rockett entered the 2009 season ranked among returning hitters nationallyin career hits (238/third), RBIs (152/third), total bases (370/third)and doubles (47/sixth). Meanwhile, junior closer Zach Calhoon's UTSAcareer-record 19 saves stood fourth among the country's returnees entering the spring.
Preseason polls: UTSA was the consensus choice to win itsthird consecutive SLC Regular Season Championship, as voted by theleague's coaches and sports information directors. The Roadrunnerspicked up five first-place votes in both polls and outdistancedsecond-place Lamar by nine points (111-102) in the SIDs Poll. In thecoaches poll, they were ahead of Sam Houston State and Texas State byfour tallies (110-106).
Getting ready for the grind: UTSAis slated to play 55 games this season and those contests will takeplace over an 85-day span. In a rare feat for a southern-based program,the Roadrunners will play 30 of their tilts away from the Alamo City,which translates to 54.5 percent.
Team captains: Seniors Marshal Davis, Michael Rockett and Kris Ruepke and junior Ryan Rummel will serve as team captains this spring.
