Southeastern Louisiana (6-3, 0-0 SLC) at UTSA Roadrunners (6-3, 0-0 SLC)
Games 10-12 ? Friday-Sunday, March 6-8 ? 6/2/1 p.m.
Roadrunner Field (800) ? San Antonio, Texas
Probable starting pitching matchups (W-L, ERA. IP, K)
Friday, March 6: 8 Red Patterson, rhp (1-1, 4.26, 12.2, 15) vs. Ryan Boudreaux, rhp (1-1, 1.46, 12.1, 6)
Saturday, March 7: 24 Kris Ruepke, lhp (0-2, 13.50, 10.0, 8) vs. Brandon Efferson, rhp (1-1, 6.23, 13.0, 13)
Sunday, March 8: 2 Clay Schrader, rhp (2-0, 3.86, 11.2, 15) vs. TBA
Probable UTSA starting lineup (BA, R, HR, RBI, SB)
1. R 14 Tyler Carpenter, rf (.400, 7, 1, 5, 2)
2. R 5 Ryan Rummel, c (.175, 4, 0, 6, 3)
3. R 1 Michael Rockett, cf (.333, 10, 4, 9, 3)
4. R 13 Aaron Powell, 1b (.333, 10, 3, 9, 1)
5. R 22 Jose Hernandez, lf (.387, 13, 4, 11, 4)
6. R 23 Ryan Hutson, 2b (.242, 7, 0, 4, 0)
7. L 21 Brett Aguilar, dh (.300, 5, 0, 5, 1)
8. R 17 Lance Brown, 3b (.297, 7, 0, 3, 2)
9. S 10 Marshal Davis, ss (.314, 8, 0, 7, 1)
Leading off:
? UTSA will be playing its first games of the season at Roadrunner Field this weekend
? The Roadrunners have won 17 of their last 20 contests at their on-campus facility and 50 in the last three seasons (50-13/.794)
?UTSA is coming off a five-game road trip in which it posted a 3-2 record
? The Roadrunners 11-8 victory last 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 8.6 runs and 11.4 hits per game this year
? UTSA picked up its first season-opening win in nine years withtheir 8-5 victory against San Francisco on Friday, Feb. 20
? The Birds are the consensus preseason favorite to win their thirdconsecutive 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)
? 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: The Roadrunners lead, 20-14, and have won five of the last half dozen meetings (10 of 13 dating back to 2005). UTSA has dominated play at Roadrunner Field, posting a 12-3 all-time mark against the Lions.
On the Web: A free audio stream of all 55 of UTSA's games will be carried live courtesy of Yahoo! Sports this season. Ed Suarez 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).
Home-field advantage: Roadrunners Field, also affectionately known as the Bird Bath, has been very unkind to the opposition the last three seasons. UTSA has posted a 50-13 record, which translates to a winning percentage of nearly 80 percent (79.4), at its on-campus facility since 2006. The Roadrunners have recorded three 16-win campaigns in a row and enter this weekend having won 17 of their last 20 contests at the friendly confines of the Bird Bath.
Potent offense: UTSA is averaging more than eight runs (8.6) and 11 hits(11.4) per game this season. More than 38 percent of the team's safetieshave gone for extra bases (22 doubles, 5 triples, 12 home runs) andthat has translated to a .506 slugging percentage. The Roadrunnersalso have stolen 18 bases, an average two per contest, and senior JoseHernandez leads the squad with four, while senior Michael Rockett andjunior Ryan Rummel are close behind with three apiece.
Rockett sets UTSA all-time hits record: SeniorMichaelRockett just missed his second cycle in a year in last Sunday's 11-8 win atOral Roberts, but his 3-for-5 performance vaulted him into first placeon the program's career hits chart. The All-America center fielder nowhas 252 in his four years as a Roadrunner and that mark is three morethan 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 heranks third in bating average (.345) and RBIs (161), fourth in at-bats(730) and home runs (27), fifth in triples (9) and sixth inruns scored (147). The Sugar Land native is hitting .333 with 10 runsscored, a pair of doubles, one triple, a team-leading four homersand nine RBIs this year. His three-run long ball in the seventh inning of Wednesday's 14-8 win at Houston extended his hitting streak 14 games (dating back to May 16,2008) and that is one shy of his career best set during his Freshman All-America campaign of 2006.
Heavy-hitting Hernandez:Senior Jose Hernandez arguably has been the team's mostconsistent hitter this spring. Hernandez is leading the Roadrunners in runs (13), doubles (5), homers (4), RBIs (11), stolen bases (4),walks (6), hit by pitches (3), on-base percentage (.525), total bases (31) and slugging percentage (1.000).The Anaheim Hills, Calif., native is coming off a junior year that sawhim hit .319 with nine doubles, a homer and 24 RBIs in 43 games (41starts).
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 .a team-high .400 with seven runs scored,a squad-best five doubles, a homer, five RBIs and two stolen bases ? brings a 10-game hitting streak into this weekend (dating back to May23, 2008). The Missouri City native is hitting .429 (18-for-42) during the streak and it is one shy of the longest of his brief career. Carpenter has a team-best 16 hits this spring and also is reaching base at a .478 clip to go along with a .600 slugging percentage.
Captain K-men: Junior right-hander Red Patterson and freshman righty Clay Schrader are striking out opposing hitters at a rate of more than 10 per nine innings this season. They both have 15 punchouts and Patterson's have come in 12.2 innings, a rate of 10.7 per nine frames, while Schrader has accomplished his in one fewer inning, which translates to a ratio of 11.6. The pair has helped the Roadrunners pitching staff average more than a whiff per frame this spring (82 in 79 innings).
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.
