HOUSTON – The second-seeded UTSA baseball team fell to No. 7 seed Middle Tennessee, 5-1, in the opening round of the Conference USA Championships on Wednesday afternoon. The Roadrunners will play in an elimination game against No. 3 seed Charlotte on Thursday at 9 a.m. at Reckling Park.
QUICK HITS
- Matt King and Caleb Hill had two hits apiece to lead the team. King extended his reached base streak to 11 games.
- Antonio Valdez and Shane Sirdashney extended their reached base streaks to 16 and 13, respectively, with a hit each.
- The Roadrunners fell to a 38-18 overall record, while Middle Tennessee improved to 26-27 overall.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Blue Raiders set the tone early in the game as J.T. Mabry hit a solo home run on the second pitch in the top of the first. The Roadrunners tried to get something going in the bottom of the inning with a walk and single but the two runners were left stranded.
The second inning went scoreless as starting pitcher Ryan Ward allowed a couple baserunners, but a groundout ended the inning. In the bottom of the second, UTSA once again had a couple runners aboard with no outs, but a double play and groundout ended it.
Three straight walks to start the third forced a pitching change as UTSA brought in ace Luke Malone. A few runs scored, credited to the starter, but Malone worked through to end the inning with Middle Tennessee leading by 3-0.
In the next three innings, Malone faced the minimum as he gave the Roadrunners an opportunity to turn the game around.
A phenomenal double play in the top of the sixth that went from third baseman Valdez to first baseman Garrett Poston to shortstop King, who was covering third, was crucial to get a rally going for the Roadrunners. In the bottom of the sixth, a solo home run by King finally put UTSA on the board and cut Middle Tennessee's lead to 3-1.
In the seventh frame, Malone picked up another strikeout and forced another zero on the visiting side of the board.
The Blue Raiders extended their lead to 5-1 in the top of the eighth with a two-run home run.
Although the home team got three runners on the basepaths in the final two innings, UTSA was unable to complete the comeback as the Roadrunners fell to Middle Tennessee, 5-1, in the Conference USA Championships opening round.
SCOUTING THE 49ERS
Charlotte holds a 29-26 overall record after dropping the conference opener to Louisiana Tech by 13-8. The 49ers earned the third seed in the tournament, after going 17-12 in C-USA play in the regular season.
The 49ers had four named to the C-USA All-Conference Teams, including outfielder Cam Fisher and starting pitcher Wyatt Hudepohl on the First Team and catcher Kaden Hopson and infielder Jack Dragum on the Second Team.
Fisher leads the 49ers with a .332 batting average, 61 runs, 65 hits, 55 RBI and a league-leading 25 home runs. Charlotte leads the conference in a few different categories, including walks (316), fielding percentage (.979) and WHIP (1.38). The 49ers' starting pitcher is to be determined but Cameron Hansen seems like the most probable choice. Hansen has a 3-1 record and 4.10 ERA in 16 appearances and 10 starts. The last time the Roadrunners faced Hansen, they scored five runs on five hits in 1.1 innings.
SERIES HISTORY VS CHARLOTTE
The Roadrunners lead the all-time series over the 49ers by 15-14. The teams last played earlier this season on April 6, 2023, when UTSA and Charlotte split a doubleheader. The Roadrunners took the first game by 5-3, before Charlotte took the second game by 12-10. Although it was scheduled for a three-game series, the two teams were not able to play the third game due to weather.
The Roadrunners and 49ers have played each other three times in the conference tournament, with Charlotte holding the 2-1 advantage. The first time they played each other in the postseason was May 25, 2017, when UTSA took a 5-0 victory over Charlotte in an elimination game. In 2018, the Roadrunners opened up the tournament on May 24 with an 11-1 win over the 49ers. The two teams then met two days later in an elimination game on May 26 in which Charlotte took a 10-4 win.
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