Baseballers to host Sam Houston State this weekend

SAN ANTONIO —UTSA will look to get back on the winning track this weekend when Sam Houston State comes to the Alamo City for a weekend three-game Southland Conference series at Roadrunner Field. Friday's opener is slated for 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. contest on Saturday and the 1 p.m. finale the next day.

The Roadrunners (9-10, 1-5 SLC) dropped below .500 for the first time this season following Wednesday's 4-3 seven-inning loss at Baylor. The Birds enter the weekend on a three-game losing streak and they have dropped six of their last eight outings overall.

Senior Ryan Rummel has been on a torrid pace at the plate since entering the starting lineup on March 6 at San Francisco. The Uvalde native is hitting .472 (17-for-36) with four doubles, a triple, two homers and 10 RBIs in his 10 starts this season and he also has reached base at a .525 clip in addition to slugging .806 (29 total bases). Rummel reached base in all three of his plate appearances at Baylor and also drove home a pair of runners with his first-inning single.

The Bearkats (8-13, 3-3 SLC) have opened the week with victories against Houston Baptist (9-8/Tuesday) and Prairie View A&M (8-3/Wednesday). They have won three games in a row and five of seven overall, with the only two losses in that span coming against Texas State last weekend in Huntsville.

Sam Houston State features seven players that are hitting .300 or better and it is being led by Chris Andreas, who sports a .397 batting average to go along with six doubles, a pair of home runs and 16 RBIs. Mark Hudson is hitting .375 and leads the Kats with 33 hits, 17 runs scored, seven two-baggers, three homers and 17 RBIs.

Friday night's starter, Justin Jackson, paces the pitching staff with a 2.88 ERA, a figure he has accumulated in 25 innings of work. He has appeared in eight games (two starts) and owns a 17-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

UTSA has dominated the last four-years-worth of regular season meetings between the two programs.

The Birds, who own a quartet of Southland series sweeps dating back to the 2006 campaign, have been victorious in 12 of the last 13 matchups between the two programs. The only loss during that time was a 3-1 setback on March 3, 2007, at the Al Ogletree Classic in Edinburg. However, the Bearkats have defeated the Roadrunners in two of the last three editions of the Southland Tournament.