SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will look to continue its hot-hitting this weekend when it hosts defending Pac-12 Champion and 24th-ranked Utah in a four-game series. Due to weather, a 2 p.m. doubleheader now will be played on Friday with Saturday's game to be announced based on the weather forecast. Sunday's series finale will be played as scheduled at noon.
The Roadrunners have had the hot bat this season as UTSA (5-3) has registered double-digit hits in all but one game. UTSA leads Conference USA with a .550 slugging percentage and ranks second in batting average (.325) and on-base percentage (.425). The Roadrunners stout offense ranks top 50 in the country with top 10 rankings in hit by pitch (4th/17), home runs (8th/14) and slugging percentage (10th).
UTSA heads into the weekend off a 7-3 victory at former Southland Conference foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Roadrunners scored at least one run in each of the first five innings and held the Islanders off the board behind Steven Dressler's four innings of one-hit baseball. UTSA also extended its home run streak in the fifth inning after Bryan Arias blasted a first pitch over the right-field wall.
Meanwhile, southpaw Nolan Trabanino continues to be a bright spot for the Roadrunners pitching staff. The Friendswood native is third in C-USA with a 0.79 ERA and tops the league with a pair of wins. Trabanino has tossed 11.1 innings and allowed one run on eight hits and is holding opponents to a .190 batting average. The lefty is scheduled to start the second game of the series.
No. 24 Utah (5-2) heads to the Lone Star State on an 11-game road swing. The Utes opened the season with CSU Bakersfield and took two of three. The team then traveled to Surprise, Ariz., for the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge and swept Ohio State and split with Nebraska.
Utah is hitting at a Pac-12 second-best .355 clip and also ranks second with a .417 slugging percentage. Over the weekend in Arizona, Hunter Simmons helped the Utes to a 3-1 week and batted .563 en route to earning Pac-12 Player of the Week honors. Simmons is batting .323 on the season and is tied for the team lead with seven RBIs.
On the bump, Jacob Rebar, along with three others, own a perfect 0.00 ERA. Rebar has tossed 9.2 innings in two appearances and has won twice. He is tied for the team lead with 12 strikeouts.
