HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Following a pair of victories to open the Conference USA Tournament, UTSA now is one win shy of advancing to Sunday’s 1 p.m. title game.
The seventh-seeded Roadrunners (34-24) got past No. 2 seed UAB by a score of 4-1 on Wednesday and they earned an off day on Friday following Thursday night's 8-3 triumph against sixth-seeded East Carolina.
UTSA is sitting in the catbird seat in its bracket thanks in no small part to its pitching staff.
Roadrunners hurlers have tossed a combined 18 innings, given up just one earned run (four total) on seven hits (five singles) to go with 23 strikeouts and just four walks in their first two outings of the weekend.
Brock Hartson gave UTSA a dominating 8.1-inning start on Wednesday against UAB when he gave up just one unearned run on two hits and a walk while fanning a career-high 12 Blazers.
Thursday starter Nolan Trabanino was equally up to the task. The sophomore southpaw went a career-long eight frames while allowing just one earned run (three total) on four hits and three walks to go with eight punchouts against East Carolina.
The Roadrunnrs have used just three pitchers so far, as Logan Onda has closed out both games. He has three strikeouts and allowed just one hit in 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.
UTSA will face No. 3 seed and tournament host Southern Mississippi (34-24) at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Golden Eagles got past sixth-seeded East Carolina by a score of 3-1 on Friday in an elimination game. Southerm Miss will need to defeat UTSA two times on Saturday to advance to the championship game that will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
The Golden Eagles took the regular season series from the Roadrunners in March in Hattiesburg following a walk-off victory in the Sunday finale.
UTSA now has won six consecutive conference tournament tilts dating back to last season’s perfect four-game run through the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.