SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team will host Columbia in a four-game series at Roadrunner Field this weekend. The set is slated to open at 6 p.m. Friday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader taking place the following day. The series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
FRIDAY - UTSA Derek Craft, rhp (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Ty Wiest (0-2, 8.71 ERA)
SATURDAY 1 - UTSA Steven Dressler, lhp (2-1, 2.05 ERA) vs. Ben Wereski (0-1, 7.71 ERA)
SATURDAY 2 - UTSA Karan Patel, rhp (1-0, 1.12 ERA) vs. Harrisen Egly (0-2, 7.56 ERA)
SUNDAY - UTSA Chance Kirby (0-2, 5.19 ERA) vs. Jordan Chriss (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
The Roadrunners (5-5) are looking to add to their three-game winning streak following last weekend's series sweep at McNeese State. UTSA capped the weekend with a 14-3 win in the finale against the Cowboys on Sunday at Joe Miller Ballpark.
The starting pitching rotation for the Birds has stepped up this spring. The six pitchers used as starters have combined for a 2.06 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 48.0 innings.
Meanwhile, UTSA showed flashes of an offensive breakout at the plate in last weekend's series. The Roadrunners hit .292 and scored 20 runs.
Bryan Arias leads the team with a .293 batting average that includes three extra-base hits and nine RBIs. Jonathan Tapia has driven a team-best 10 runs, while Arias and Tapia have each scored eight times.
The Lions (1-7) will continue their season-opening 18-game road trip as they swing through the Lone Star State during Spring Break. Columbia, which will play 10 games in the state of Texas over a 10-day stretch, opened the 2018 campaign with five consecutive losses. However, the Lions collected a 4-3 win against USF in the second game of a four-game series.
UTSA and Columbia met in a four-game series in 2014, also at Roadrunner Field. The Roadrunners took three of four games in the set, but the Lions captured the series finale by a 4-2 score.
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