SAN ANTONIO — Following Tuesday's impressive victory at No. 21 Baylor, UTSA will hit the road for a three-game series at Louisiana Tech beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
UTSA (12-11, 2-4 C-USA) heads into the weekend conference series off its third victory against a ranked opponent this season, the most in program history. The Roadrunners posted a convincing 15-9 win and had three players register four or more hits. Bryan Arias led the offensive charge by going 5-for-6 with a pair of home runs, four runs scored, seven RBIs and a double. Arias became the 15th player to register a program best five hits in a single game.
After putting on a hitting clinic in Waco with a season-best 21 hits, UTSA boasts a Conference USA-best .312 team batting average and ranks in the top five in 10 offensive categories.
Catcher Tony Beam remains atop the season stats with a .379 batting average, while Arias follows with a .372 clip. The San Antonio product is tied for the team lead in hits and tops the squad in runs scored, home runs, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage.
On the hill, reliever Chris Muller leads the Roadrunners pitching staff with a C-USA best 1.14 ERA. Muller has made 10 appearances – all in relief. The right-hander owns a 1-0 record and has earned a save three times to lead the staff with 31 strikeouts.
Louisiana Tech, which was off to a hot start in 2017 by knocking out nationally-ranked opponents, has stumbled once C-USA play began and owns a 1-5 mark in those games. The Bulldogs (17-8) were swept by Southern Miss and then managed to take one away from Charlotte on the road.
In the last five contests, Louisiana Tech is 2-3 and it is 4-6 in its last 10 overall. The Bulldogs head into the weekend off Tuesday's 12-3 victory against Louisiana-Monroe that featured four home runs, including three consecutive in the seventh inning.
LA Tech is hitting .299 as a team and is led by catcher Brent Diaz. The junior is batting at a .378 clip in starting all 25 games. He is second on the team in hits and has added 11 doubles, a pair of triples, four home runs, 21 runs scored and 25 RBIs. The Bulldogs have three other players hitting .300 or better this season (Jordan Washam, .364/Sean Ullrich, .326/Chase Lunceford, .300).
UTSA leads the all-time series, 10-5, and it won the last meeting in San Antonio by a score of 5-4 in extra innings.
