HOUSTON – The two-seeded UTSA baseball team opens up its seventh appearance in the Conference USA Championships on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., facing No. 7 seed Middle Tennessee in the first round at Reckling Park in Houston.
CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
This marks the seventh time that the Roadrunners have appeared in the Conference USA Championships. The last time was the most memorable for UTSA as the team advanced to the title game but ultimately fell to Louisiana Tech, 9-8, on a walk-off single by the Bulldogs.
The Roadrunners have also advanced to the title game in 2014 but fell to Rice by 11-5. Overall, UTSA has an 11-13 record in the Conference USA Tournament since joining the league in the 2013-14 season.
LAST WEEK FOR THE ROADRUNNERS
UTSA ended the regular season with a 38-17 overall record and 21-8 in conference play, after taking two of three games in the final regular season series against Louisiana Tech on May 18-20. Throughout the weekend, the Roadrunners launched a phenomenal 10 home runs.
The Roadrunners began their final week on regular season play with a 10-8 loss to Abilene Christian on Tuesday. Taylor Smith hit a game-tying grand slam in the fifth inning, before taking a 8-7 lead on a dropped third strike in the sixth. The Wildcats scored a couple in bottom of the frame to regain the lead, eventually taking the 10-8 win.
POSTSEASON 'RUNNERS
The Roadrunners had a program-high eight student-athletes named All-Conference at the conclusion of the regular season.
Simon Miller was named the C-USA Pitcher of the Year, as well as earning First Team honors. Joining him on the First Team is Antonio Valdez. On the Second Team, five Roadrunners made the list, including Josh Killeen, Leyton Barry, Caleb Hill, Luke Malone and Sammy Diaz. Ruger Riojas was named to the All-Freshman Team. These eight selections are the most by a UTSA team in program history, beating the previous team-high of seven by the 2007 team in the Southland Conference.
TAYLOR SMITH EVERYONE
Senior designated hitter Taylor Smith was named not only the Conference USA Hitter of the Week, but also earned Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Week this week.
As one of 12 players on Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's National Players of the Week list, Smith found himself at the top of the list after an outstanding week on May 15 which consisted of him recording six home runs across four games. This is just the seventh time a Roadrunner has earned National Player of the Week, the last time being Chase Keng on March 29, 2021.
Last week, Smith went 9-for-20 while launching six home runs, a triple, a double and 10 RBI. Three of Smith's six home runs came during an 18-16 win over Louisiana Tech, tying the program record for homers in one game. His six home runs on the week brought his season total to 17, one shy of the program record.
Throughout the season, Smith has been a force at the place as the Roadrunner's starting designated hitter. He is second on the team with a 1.102 OPS, .646 slugging percentage and .456 on-base percentage.
SIMON (MILLER) SAYS
Junior Simon Miller has had a truly phenomenal season, leading the nation in ERA for more than a month. As of May 17, he's currently sixth in the nation in ERA, 44th in the nation in wins and sixth in saves.
Miller earned a pair of midseason honors, including D1Baseball Midseason All-American Second Team and NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List. He was named to NCBWA's Preseason Watch List before the start of the season as well.
Miller earned the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 28, his first weekly honor in his career as a Roadrunner. He earned the honor after earning a win and save, leading UTSA to a 4-1 record during the week of Feb. 21.
Prior to the start of the season, he was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List and Conference USA Preseason All-Conference Team as one of just two relief pitchers on that conference team (the other reliever being his teammate Daniel Shafer).
LEADING THE ROADRUNNERS
Antonio Valdez leads the team with a batting average of .391, 63 runs, 84 hits, 65 RBI, seven triples, and 17 stolen bases. Taylor Smith has a team-high 17 home runs, while Leyton Barry is leading the team with 16 doubles.
On the mound, Simon Miller leads the team with a 1.83 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, eight wins, and 11 saves. Other key performers include Ulises Quiroga (7-2, 52 K's), Luke Malone (1.40 WHIP, 75 K's), Ruger Riojas (5-0, 55 K's), Ryan Beaird (4-2, 1.65 WHIP) and Daniel Garza (5-1, 1.56 WHIP).
IN THE C-USA AND IN THE NATION
The Roadrunners lead the conference in multiple categories – batting average (.311), hits (601), on-base percentage (.413), triples (27) – second in the nation in the category – triples per game (0.49), and walks allowed per nine innings (3.43).
Miller leads the conference in ERA (1.83) and wins (8). Valdez leads the conference with seven triples (fourth in the nation) and second in the conference with 84 hits, .391 batting average, .487 on-base percentage, 63 runs, 65 RBI, and 151 total bases. Sammy Diaz is the second-toughest batter to strike out in the nation (22.3).
GOING STREAKING
The Roadrunners have been a part of a lot of streaks this season, the biggest one being their 10-game winning streak early in the season.
Taylor Smith had a reached-base streak of 34 games. Antonio Valdez went on a similar streak, reaching base in 26 consecutive games to start the season.
Five Roadrunners have active double-digit reached-base streaks, including Taylor Smith (13), Antonio Valdez (15), Josh Killeen (19), Matt King (10) and Shane Sirdashney (12).
SCOUTING THE BLUE RAIDERS
Middle Tennessee ended the regular season with a 25-27 record (14-16 in Conference USA action). The Blue Raiders were swept by Charlotte in a three-game series to end the regular season, earning the No. 7 seed in the C-USA Championships.
The Blue Raiders earned five accolades for C-USA All-Conference. Infielder Brett Coker and starting pitcher Jaden Hamm earned First Team honors, while Ollie Akens, Patrick Johnson and Jared Vetetoe were named All-Freshman Team.
Middle Tennessee's starter for Tuesday's matchup Eriq Swan has a 7.04 ERA, striking out 66 batters in 55 innings pitched. The Blue Raiders' closer James Sells has a 4.70 ERA and 1.53 WHIP in 24 appearances. Brett Coker leads the team with a .346 batting average, 72 hits and 42 runs.
SERIES HISTORY VS MIDDLE TENNESSEE
The Roadrunners lead the all-time series over the Blue Raiders by 21-8. The teams last played each other earlier in the season on April 14-16, 2023, when UTSA swept Middle Tennessee in a three-game series at home.
The two teams have only played each other in postseason play twice in the 2015 season. The Roadrunners took the opening round game, 9-7, on May 20, 2015. The Roadrunners and Blue Raiders then met again in an elimination game on May 22, in which Middle Tennessee won by 5-4.
FUEL TO THE FIVE
The Roadrunners were picked to finish fifth in the Conference USA, after a phenomenal season in 2022 in which UTSA broke multiple program records and advanced to the C-USA Championship game. Defending champion Louisiana Tech was voted to finish first. C-USA newcomer Dallas Baptist was picked to finish second, followed by Florida Atlantic at third and Charlotte at fourth.
ON DECK
The winner of this matchup will go on to face the winner of No. 3 Charlotte/No. 6 Louisiana Tech on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. The loser of the game will face the loser of the Charlotte/Louisiana Tech on Thursday at 9 a.m.
-UTSA-
