SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will continue its current home stand this weekend when it hosts Louisiana Tech in a three-game Conference USA series. Friday's opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the final two contests slated to take place at 2 and 1 p.m., respectively, on Saturday and Sunday.
The Roadrunners (14-25, 5-13 C-USA) head into the weekend following last night's 12-4 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. A seven-run sixth inning put the Islanders on top for good and they never looked back. UTSA now has dropped their last four games with its last win coming at Old Dominion on April 17.
Leading the way for the Roadrunners is Bryan Arias. The San Antonio product is batting at a .331 clip and is second on the team with 46 hits, including eight for extra bases, 12 RBIs and a .403 slugging percentage. Arias has recorded multiple hits in his last three games, including a season-best four at Western Kentucky last Saturday.
Also batting above .300 this season is J.T. Gilmore and Skyler Valentine. Gilmore sports a .321 batting average, while Valentine sits at .310 and is the team leader in hits (49) and doubles (14).
On the mound, UTSA will feature its usual rotation of Aaron Burns (4.50 ERA) on Friday and Karl Craigie (4.96 ERA) on Saturday. Sunday's starter has yet to be determined.
Louisiana Tech (25-13, 10-8 C-USA) comes to the Alamo City tied for fourth in the league standings. The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-3 victory against No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday, which completed a season sweep over the Ragin' Cajuns.
The Bulldogs have six players batting above .300 and are led by Jonathan Washam, who sports a .386 average. Sean Ulrich follows at .336 and he leads the team in almost every offensive category.
Louisiana Tech will feature left-hander Phillip Diehl, righty Cameron Linck and right-hander Casey Sutton over the weekend. Diehl leads the pitching staff with 54 strikeouts and he owns a 4.17 ERA.
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