UTSA Roadrunners (5-3) at Houston Cougars (2-7)
Game 9 ? Wednesday, March 4 ? 4 p.m. (please note time change)
Cougar Field (3,500) ? Houston, Texas
Probable starting pitching matchup (W-L, ERA. IP, K)
11 Ryan Proudfoot, rhp (0-0, 4.50, 4.0, 3) vs. Jared Ray, rhp (0-1, 13.50, 5.1, 4)
Probable UTSA starting lineup (BA, R, HR, RBI, SB)
1. R 14 Tyler Carpenter, rf (.382, 5, 1, 4, 2)
2. R 5 Ryan Rummel, c (.184, 4, 0, 6, 3)
3. R 1 Michael Rockett, cf (.361, 9, 3, 6, 3)
4. R 13 Aaron Powell, 1b (.382, 10, 3, 9, 1)
5. R 22 Jose Hernandez, lf (.370, 11, 3, 9, 4)
6. R 23 Ryan Hutson, 2b (.241, 6, 0, 4, 0)
7. L 21 Brett Aguilar, dh (.286, 4, 0, 1, 1)
8. R 17 Lance Brown, 3b (.265, 5, 0, 3, 1)
9. S 10 Marshal Davis, ss (.313, 5, 0, 6, 1)
Leading off:
?Wednesday is the end of a five-game road trip for the Roadrunners, who are 2-2 on the trip thus far
? UTSA's 11-8 victory on Sunday at Oral Roberts ended the nation's longest active home winning streak at 25 games
? Senior Michael Rockett went 3-for-5 in that win to push his career total to 251 hits, setting a new program record
? The Roadrunners are averaging 7.9 runs and 11.1 hits per game
? UTSA begins Southland Conference play this weekend at Roadrunner Field against Southeastern Louisiana
? The Birds picked up their first season-opening win in nine years with their 8-5 victory against San Francisco on Friday, Feb. 20
?UTSA is the consensus preseason favorite to win its thirdconsecutive Southland Conference Regular Season Championship
? The Roadrunners return 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)
? 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: Houston leads, 14-6, but the two teams have split the last four meetings. UTSA picked up a 12-inning, 11-9 victory the last time the two schools met at Cougar Field (April 30, 2008) and is 4-6 all-time at the facility.
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 Wednesday. 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).
Potent offense: The Roadrunners are averaging nearly eight runs (7.9) and more than 11 hits (11.1) per game this season. More than 40 percent of UTSA's safeties have gone for extra bases (22 doubles, 4 triples, 10 home runs) and that has translated to a .505 team slugging percentage. The Roadrunners also have stolen 17 bases, more than two per contest, and senior Jose Hernandez leads the squad with four, while senior Michael Rockett and junior Ryan Rummel are close behind with three apiece.
Rockett sets UTSA all-time hits record: SeniorMichael Rockett just missed his second cycle in a year in Sunday's 11-8 win at Oral Roberts, but his 3-for-5 performance vaulted him into first place on the program's career hits chart. The All-America center fielder now has 251 in his four years as a Roadrunner and that mark is two more than former record holder Jeff Juarez. who recorded 249 from 1996-99. Rockett's name can be found all over the school's all-time lists, as he ranks third in bating average (.346) and RBIs (158), fourth in at-bats (725), in a fifth-place tie in homers (26) and triples (9) and sixth in runs (146). The Sugar Land native is hitting .361 with nine runs scored, a pair of doubles, one triple, a team-leading three home runs and six RBIs this year. He has racked up a squad-best 26 total bases, which translates to a .722 slugging percentage. Rockett enters Wednesday's tilt riding a 13-game hitting streak dating back to May 16, 2008.
Powell powering Roadrunners: SeniorAaron Powell is off to a powerful start to kick off the 2009 campaign.The Midland native is hitting a team-high .382 (13-for-34) with two doubles, a squad-best three home runs and nineRBIs and 10 runs scored. He also has recorded a .706 sluggingpercentage and .432 on-base average in leading UTSA to four wins in six games.The preseason second-team All-SLC selection opened the year with threeconsecutive multi-hit games, (four of first five overall) which extended his hitting streak to 14games dating back to May 3, 2008 (the streak came to an end on Feb. 22).
Heavy-hitting Hernandez: Senior left fielder Jose Hernandez arguably has been the team's most consistent hitter this spring. Hernandez is leading the Birds in runs scored (11), doubles (5), home runs (3), RBIs (9), stolen bases (4), walks (5), on-base percentage (.514) and slugging percentage (.889). The Anaheim Hills, Calif., native is coming off a junior year that saw him hit .319 with nine doubles, a homer and 24 RBIs in 43 games (41 starts).
Leadoff production: After batting seventh in the first two gamesof the season, sophomore Tyler Carpenter has found a home atop theRoadrunners' lineup. Carpenter ? who is hitting .382 with five runs,a team-best five doubles, a homer, five RBIs and two stolen bases ? brings anine-game hitting streak into Wednesday's contest (dating back to May23, 2008). The Missouri City native is reaching base at a .475 clip andalso owns a .618 slugging percentage in the early going this spring.
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. He is coming off a junior campaignthatsaw 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 two weeks ago. The Spring native saved two of UTSA’sthree wins against San Francisco in the opening weekend of the year. The right-hander setdown the Dons in order and fanned two in the season-opening 8-5 victory and cameback two days later with another two-strikeout performance in finishingoff the Roadrunners’ 6-3 triumph. The pair of saves pushed his UTSAcareer 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 and54strikeouts 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.
