SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team hosts the Tarleton Texans on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Karl Schoening and Mike Capps on the call.
QUICK HITS
Broc Parmer is on an eight-game hitting streak which includes two multi-hit games and two multi-RBI games. Mason Lytle and Caleb Hill each have a team-high six multi-hit games. The Roadrunners hit eight home runs across four games last week, including two by both Hill and James Taussig.
UTSA is coming off a series win over WAC powerhouse Grand Canyon, taking two out of three games including a 12-0 series opener shutout and a 10-9 series closer win. During the weekend, the Roadrunners earned season-highs in at-bats, runs scored, hits, RBI, total bases, walks, sacrifice flies, and strikeouts.
The Roadrunners lead the American Athletic Conference in triples (4) and triples per game (0.33), as well as batting average (.310) and least walks allowed per nine innings (2.62). Caleb Hill leads the conference with 1.45 runs per game, while Matt King leads the AAC with four sacrifice flies. Ruger Riojas leads the American with three victories, while Hector Rodriguez is the toughest batter to strike out in the nation with a 0.0 strikeout rate. Daniel Garza has the lowest walks allowed per nine innings in the conference (0.71).
CHILL OUT, CALEB
Senior Caleb Hill was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week last week after leading UTSA to a 3-1 record last week. This is his second weekly conference accolade and his first in the AAC. In three starts, Hill picked up seven hits, six runs, six RBI and a couple of home runs.
On Feb. 27 against Houston, Hill hit two home runs and a single that scored four RBI combined to help the Roadrunners rally back from a 7-2 deficit and win the game 8-7. In the series opener against GCU on March 1, Hill went 2-for-4 with a run, RBI and double. In the series finale on March 3, he went 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. He was the tying run in the bottom of the second in a game where it was tied three times. He later scored a run that put UTSA up by two runs, later leading the Roadrunners to a 10-9 win.
Prior to the start of the season, he earned the No. 81 spot on D1Baseball’s Preseason Top 100 Outfielders list.
SCOUTING THE TEXANS
Tarleton holds a 9-4 record through the first three weeks of the season, after splitting a series, 2-2, at Central Arkansas this past weekend on March 1-3. The Texans are currently leading the Western Athletic Conference standings, after being voted to finish ninth in the preseason coaches’ poll.
Cole Meairs leads the team with a .378 batting average, 17 hits and 14 RBI. Three more Texans are hitting over .300, including Mason Crews, Tyson Drake and Brandon Howell.
SERIES HISTORY VS TARLETON
The Roadrunners hold a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series against the Texans. In the teams’ previous meeting earlier this season on Feb. 20, UTSA suffered a heartbreaking 14-10 loss to Tarleton on the road in Stephenville, Texas, on Feb. 20.
The Roadrunners battled back from a six-run deficit to tie the game up twice, but a walk-off grand slam by the Texans was the difference maker. Matt King led the team with a 4-for-5 game and two runs, while Conor Myles made his first appearance and struck out three.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ROADRUNNERS
UTSA earned its first series win of the season, taking two of three games against Grand Canyon. The Roadrunners opened the series with a 12-0 shutout on Friday, led by Ty Tilson’s 4-for-4 performance and Robert Orloski’s seven-strikeout outing.
In the Saturday game, freshman Diego Diaz went 4-for-4 with his first career home run but UTSA dropped the game by 9-7. Braylon Owens also struck out three batters in 2.2 innings of action.
The Roadrunners closed out the series with a 10-9 walk-off win on Sunday with the walk-off run scored on a wild pitch. Mason Lytle led the team with a 4-for-6 showing with three runs. Ruger Riojas (3-0) earned his third win of the season, closing out the final four innings of the game while striking out five batters.
UTSA opened last week with a hard-fought 8-7 win over Houston on the road on Tuesday, Feb. 27. Despite being down by 7-2 in the fifth, the Roadrunners battled back to take the win. The team hit four home runs, including two by Caleb Hill who went 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs. UTSA hit three consecutive home runs in the sixth inning.
Drake Smith earned his first win of the season, pitching 1.2 innings of relief while striking out four batters. Ruger Riojas earned his first save of the season, to go along with his 2-0 record.
THREE’S A LUCKY NUMBER
The Roadrunners were picked to finish third in their first season in the American Athletic Conference.
Ahead of UTSA in this year’s AAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, powerhouse East Carolina took the top spot. Charlotte, who made the move to the AAC with UTSA this year and won last year’s C-USA Tournament, earned second place.
Following UTSA is Florida Atlantic, South Florida, Memphis, Wichita State, Rice, Tulane and UAB took the fourth-10th spots, respectively.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners travel to Corpus Christi, Texas, this weekend to play a three-game series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday through Sunday.
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