SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team will return to Conference USA play this weekend in a three-game series at league-leading Florida Atlantic. The set, which will be played at FAU Baseball Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla., opens at 5:30 p.m. (CT) Friday. Saturday's game is scheduled for 3 p.m. (CT), while Sunday's finale is slated to begin at 11 a.m. (CT).
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
FRIDAY
UTSA - Karan Patel, rhp (2-1, 3.13 ERA)
FAU - Jake Miednik, lhp (5-1, 2.24 ERA)
SATURDAY
UTSA - Steven Dressler, lhp (4-1, 2.73 ERA)
FAU - Vince Coletti, rhp (1-2, 3.67 ERA)
SUNDAY
UTSA - TBA
FAU - Mike Ruff, rhp (1-0, 1.93 ERA)
The Roadrunners (17-14, 6-5 C-USA) split a pair of midweek contests, including Wednesday night's 24-3 thrashing of Prairie View A&M. UTSA sits in fourth place in the league standings, two games back of Southern Miss and two-and-a-half behind Louisiana Tech and the Owls (24-8, 9-3 C-USA).
The Roadrunners saw their batting average rise to .265 after racking up a season-high 19 hits on Wednesday.
Ben Brookover leads the UTSA offensive contingent with a .328 batting average to go along with five home runs and 29 RBIs. Bryan Arias is hitting .323 with four homers and 20 RBIs, while Trent Bowles is hitting at a .322 clip with five round-trippers and 23 RBIs.
The Roadrunners rank fifth in the league with a 3.89 ERA, while allowing opposing teams to hit only .232 this spring.
Florida Atlantic moved up three spot in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll to No. 26 after winning seven consecutive games, including a pair of conference series sweeps.
The Owls are hitting .265 as a team, but headlined by four players batting above .300 – Joe Montes (.338), David Miranda (.336), Tyler Frank (.331) and Pedro Pages (.306). Frank also leads the team with eight home runs, while Eric Rivera has driven a team-best 27 runs.
FAU's pitching staff ranks second in C-USA with a 3.42 ERA, while limiting opposing hitters to a .234 batting average.
The Owls own a 7-5 record all-time against UTSA. The Roadrunners won two of three games last year, but FAU salvaged the set with a 10- win in the finale on April 23.
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