SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team will return home for a four-game series with No. 19 Old Dominion, starting on Friday at 6 p.m. The series resumes with a pair of seven-innings games on Saturday, starting at 2 p.m. and concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m. All four games will be broadcast live on CUSA TV.
UTSA (19-19, 11-12 Conference USA) moved into sole possession of third in the C-USA Western Division with the split last weekend at UAB, taking a slight edge over Middle Tennessee (10-13-1), with UTSA owning the tiebreaker over the Blue Raiders by virtue of a series win. The top three teams from each division clinch a berth in the C-USA Championships, with takes eight total teams. UTSA faces No. 14 Louisiana Tech (18-6) and No. 19 Old Dominion (17-7) to wrap up the regular-season schedule.
The Roadrunners hit .341 and totaled a 1.025 OPS during the series at UAB, including scoring 30 points in the final two games of the year. UTSA ranks second in C-USA in hitting (.303) and on-base percentage (.397), and third in slugging (.488). UTSA has slugged the fourth-most homers in the league (49), ranking third in runs scored (305) and fourth in hits (388).
Griffin Paxton paces the club with a .347 average, belting five homers and driving in 31. Junior shortstop Joshua Lamb has hit .345 with 12 doubles, five homers and 35 RBI, and senior catcher Nick Thornquist has hit .343 with seven doubles, one triple, 10 homers and 39 RBI. Dylan Rock has hit .320 with eight doubles, seven homers and 32 RBI, stealing eight bases.
On the mound, Luke Malone (2-2, 4.78 ERA), Daniel Garza (1-0, 4.91 ERA), Hunter Mason (6-5, 5.26 ERA), John Chomko (0-2, 5.32 ERA), Grant Miller (0-2, 6.27 ERA) and Arturo Guajardo (2-1, 7.02 ERA) have each appeared in double-digit games.
The weekend will up UTSA's total games against ranked foes to eight as the Roadrunners have also faced No. 9 TCU, No. 15 LSU and No. 21 Charlotte. Next weekend, UTSA is at No. 14 Louisiana Tech.
Old Dominion (31-11, 17-7 C-USA) comes into the weekend fresh off a 3-1 series win vs. No. 15 Charlotte, as the two teams played back-to-back four-game weekends and split 4-4. The Monarchs have hit .300/.402/.540 as a team in 2021, scoring 331 runs in 42 games, belting 77 doubles, 17 triples, 74 homers and stealing 28 bases. On the mound, ODU has a 3.79 team ERA in 354 innings, allowing only 328 hits and 143 walks, striking out 405 with opponents hitting .245. Defensively, ODU has fielded .973, turning 26 double plays and throwing out 21 would-be base-stealers.
On the mound, ODU has started Ryne Moore (5-1, 3.16 ERA), Tommy Gertner (1-1, 3.35 ERA), Hunter Gregory (6-1, 2.15 ERA) and Nick Pantos (4-2, 3.02 ERA) in at least nine games each. Noah Dean (0-1, 6.00 ERA) leads the team with five saves in 10 relief outings, striking out 25 and walking eight in 12 innings. Jason Hartline (4-0, 1.24 ERA) has appeared in a team-leading 17 games, working 29 innings with four walks and 39 strikeouts.
Carter Trice leads the Monarchs with a .359 average, slugging 11 doubles, three triples, 11 homers and 38 RBI, stealing six bases. Kyle Battle has belted 14 homers with 44 RBI, hitting .307. Andy Garriola has hit .350 with nine homers and 53 RBI. Thomas Wheeler has stolen 11 bases and batted .303 with three homers and 19 RBI.
UTSA leads the all-time series with ODU, 10-9, with the first meeting coming in 2014 in Norfolk. UTSA leads the series, 5-4 in games played in San Antonio. The Roadrunners won the last meeting, at the C-USA Championships in 2019, 3-2, after dropping the home series to ODU earlier that season. UTSA's last home series win came in 2015.
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