SAN ANTONIO – UTSA's baseball team will play the fourth game of its eight-game road trip this Wednesday, as it travels to Huntsville, Texas to face off with the Sam Houston Bearkats.
UTSA (21-11, 7-5 C-USA) will be playing in its eighth midweek game of the year as the Roadrunners are 6-1 in the previous seven with the lone loss coming at Baylor, 3-2.
The Roadrunners are 8-2 in their last ten competitions with a 6-1 record over ranked teams in that span. Among the ranked opponents that UTSA defeated were No. 11 TCU, No. 23 Charlotte and No. 29 Old Dominion. The Roadrunners now own a 7-1 record against ranked opponents on the year. UTSA's recent hot streak has resulted in the Roadrunners receiving votes in the weekly polls as well as being ranked 50 in the RPI.
The Bearkats (19-13, 10-5 WAC) will play Rice the night before UTSA and enter the Rice matchup as winners of seven of their last ten games. Sam Houston owns impressive wins over ranked teams such as winning at No. 4 Oklahoma State (2/22) and winning against No. 20 Texas State at home (3/29).
UTSA and Sam Houston have three common opponents on the season. Both teams had weekend series against the Tarleton Texans. The Bearkats swept the Texans whereas UTSA won the series 2-1. Both squads have also gone up against the Baylor Bears as Sam Houston picked up a win, UTSA fell to Baylor 2-1. The last common opponent between the two is Stephen F. Austin. The Roadrunners took down the Lumberjacks in their last midweek game 14-4 whereas the Bearkats faced SFA in a weekend series, winning 2-1.
This will be the 79th game between the two schools with the series being split between the teams right down the middle, 39-39. The Bearkats are 20-18 against the Roadrunners in games played in Huntsville.
Miscellaneous Notes
- UTSA enters the weekend series having the third-highest batting average (.298) in all of Conference USA and ranks 35th nationally.
- UTSA has drawn the 50th most walks in college baseball with 157. That's fourth in C-USA.
- The Roadrunners have hit 71 doubles, the 22nd most in baseball ranking third in C-USA.
- UTSA has 12 triples on the year, tops in C-USA and 16th in the nation.
- UTSA possesses the 24th most hits in college baseball with 333. That ranks third in C-USA.
- UTSA's 261 runs are the 19th most in college baseball and second most in conference.
- UTSA leads the nation in sacrifice flies with 25 on the season.
- The Roadrunners are averaging 8.2 runs a game. That's second-most in C-USA and 24th in the country.
- Pitcher Luke Malone owns the lowest ERA in all of Conference USA with a 1.84. That ERA ranks 32nd nationally.
- Opposing batters are hitting .244 against Malone. That's the ninth-lowest opponent batting average in the conference.
- Malone has allowed the tenth-fewest hits on the year (37) and third-fewest runs (13) in Conference USA. He has only allowed nine earned runs, the second-fewest in C-USA.
- Pitcher Daniel Shafer is tied for the seventh-most saves in C-USA with four.
- Sammy Diaz owns the fifth-best on-base percentage in Conference USA (.475).
- As part, Diaz has been hit by a pitch 11 times – third-most in C-USA.
- His 11 HBP are the 35th most drawn in the nation.
- Jonathan Tapia has hit the fourth-most doubles in C-USA (12) and has been hit by a pitch nine times on the year, placing him fifth in C-USA in that category.
- Tapia's 2Bs and HBP have helped him score 35 runs on the year. Third most in C-USA.
- Ian Bailey has logged the third most at-bats in the conference. In those at-bats he:
- Has the second-most triples of any C-USA player (3).
- Owns the sixth most RBI in the conference with 34.
- Is tied for the seventh most home runs with nine.
- Ryan Flores has drawn 24 walks on the season which ranks as the sixth most in C-USA.
- Flores and teammate Chase Keng both have four sacrifice flies on the year, placing them both in the top ten of that statistical category in Conference USA.
Weekday Information
Wednesday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m.
So. RHP, Ryan Ward (1-0, 4.82 ERA) vs. Jr. RHP, Matt Rudis (0-3, 8.86 ERA)
The game will take place at Don Sanders Stadium and will be streamed on ESPN+.
UP NEXT: UTSA will stay in the Houston area as they prepare for a weekend series matchup with the Rice Owls. The games will take place over the Easter weekend (April 15-17) and be played at Reckling Park. Each game is set to be streamed on CUSA TV.
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