UTSA to take on nation's top-ranked team on Tuesday night

SAN ANTONIO — UTSA enters the home stretch of its season-long nine-game road trip on Tuesday night when it faces No. 1 Texas in a 6 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin.

The Roadrunners (14-23) will look to build on Sunday's 14-4 victory at Lamar, a win that snapped a season-long six-game losing streak, but it will have to come in the first game in program history against a squad ranked atop national polls.

Freshman Ryan Dalton finished last weekend’s series in Beaumont with three home runs, pushing his season total to a team-leading 12. Not only is that a UTSA single-season freshman record, but it also is tied for the NCAA lead by a frosh (Florida’s Austin Maddox is the other) and ranks third in the Southland Conference. The third baseman from Sugar Land also paces the Birds with 37 RBIs and is hitting .278 this year, which has been boosted by an April batting average of .345 (19-for-55). Dalton also has left the park seven times and driven in 20 runs this month.

UTSA, which has clubbed five homers in each of the past two games, leads the Southland with 52 homers, which is four more than McNeese State.

Meanwhile, junior Tyler Carpenter hit safely in all three contests over the weekend and he will bring a career-long 18-game hitting streak into Tuesday’s game. The right fielder has produced 10 multi-hit performances, including five three-hit efforts, during the streak and is hitting .407 (33-for-81) since it began on March 26.

Texas (34-7) has won 16 consecutive games, its longest winning streak since 2005. The Longhorns have allowed the fewest runs in the country (110), which has translated to a national-best 2.30 ERA, and they also boast the country's top fielding percentage (.981/31 errors).

UT leads the all-time series, 20-5, but the two squads have split the last four meetings, including a 7-1 victory by the Roadrunners two years ago in Austin. Last year marked the first time in 17 seasons that the programs did not meet.

The week will not get any easier following Tuesday's tilt, as UTSA will head to San Marcos on Friday and Saturday to face the league's top team, I-35 rival and 30th-ranked Texas State (24-14, 15-6 SLC), for the first two contests of weekend three-game series. Sunday's finale will be played at the Bird Bath.