SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will look to move up in the Conference USA standings this weekend when it travels to Houston for a three-game set at the Rice. The series is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Reckling Park.
With four league series left in the regular season, UTSA (21-18) heads into the weekend in sixth place in the standings with a 9-9 mark. The Roadrunners won its last C-USA tilt against Florida Atlantic behind a shutout by southpaw Nolan Trabanino. UTSA has now won three of its last four conferences series.
Offensively, UTSA is fourth as a team batting a .300 average and ranks in the top five in seven offensive categories, including a league-best in triples (13).
Individually, Ben Brookover leads five players batting .300 or better with his .379 average. Brookover has recorded at least one hit in 18 of his last 20 contests, including a 14-game hit streak.
Meanwhile, Kevin Markham adds a .346 average to the lineup with a team-best 56 hits, including 25 extra base hits. Markham has registered multiple hits in four of his last five games.
On the other side of the ball, UTSA has been consistent with two of its starters in Trabanino and Tyler Giovanoni. The two have combined for 102.2 innings and 70 strikeouts.
Rice has struggled this season, as the Owls are 16-25 overall and 7-11 in C-USA. It will mark the second time since joining the league that Rice will not win a regular season title.
The Owls head into the weekend off a sweep at WKU, which was their first series win of the season. As a team, Rice is hitting .279 and it is led by Dominic DiCaprio at the plate. DiCaprio is batting .348 on the season and is second on the team in hits (49) while leading the club in RBIs (31) and walks (20).
On the mound, Zach Esquivel leads the Owls' pitching staff with a 3.10 ERA 16 appearances, including nine starts, and 58 innings tossed. Esquivel is 4-4 on the season, has one save and pitched in combined shutout. He is second on the staff with 49 strikeouts.
Rice leads the all-time series, 18-4.
