SAN ANTONIO — The Roadrunners are set to play host to American Athletic Conference opponent Tulane starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Apr. 17, with the second game starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 18, and the series finale beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 19.
The Matchup
The 28-9 (10-2) UTSA Roadrunners will take on the 23-15 (7-5) Tulane Green Wave in the Roadrunners’ fifth AAC series of the 2025 season.
The weekend series will be broadcast on ESPN+, and Karl Schoening and Mike Capps will be on the call. Live stats for the game will be on utsa.statbroadcast.com.
Series History
The Roadrunners have played in nine games against Tulane, with UTSA holding a 6-3 victory over Tulane. In the 2024 season, the Roadrunners swept Tulane in the three-game series played at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium in New Orleans, La.
On the Mound
Zach Royse is starting the Thursday night game for the Roadrunners. This will be his tenth start this season. He has 29.1 innings pitched with four wins under his belt. Royse has tallied 49 strikeouts and just 15.
Braylon Owens is scheduled to start his tenth game on Friday night. Owens has 46.2 innings pitched, racking up 50 strikeouts and just 19 walks. Saturday’s starter is still to be determined.
Last Time Out
The Roadrunners swept Wichita State in a three-game series played at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kan. UTSA won the first game 9-2, the second game 16-8 and the series finale 5-1.
Detlefsen, Lytle and Taussig
The Roadrunners’ outfield field has been dominating thanks to the likes of Drew Detlefsen, Mason Lytle and Taussig. As a trio, they have a batting average of .352, driving in a total of 130 RBIs which is 45.6 percent of UTSA’s total RBIs. Lytle, Taussig and Detlefsen have a total of 20 homers which is over half of the total home runs the Roadrunners have hit.
UTSA RPI
The Roadrunners currently have an RPI ranking of 26, which is three spots lower than the April 14 rankings. The Roadrunners had an initial ranking of 137 when the rankings came out on March 2.
The Roadrunners are 3-3 versus quad one, 5-5 against quad two opponents and a perfect 8-0 against quad three opponents.
Roadrunners in the top 30
The Roadrunners have been making noise across the nation as they rank inside the top thirty in batting average, doubles, doubles per game, HBP, hits, on-base percentage, sacrifice flies, strikeout-to-walk ratio, WHIP and walks per nine innings.
National RBI Ranking
Drew Detlefsen is fourth in the nation in RBIs with 57, he is just one shy of being tied for first in Division I baseball. He is averaging 1.54 RBIs per game, which puts him in sixth in the nation.
He Gets on Base
Freshman Jordan Ballin has been making a name for himself as he currently has an on-base percentage of .558, which is the fourth highest in Division I baseball. It is also the highest on-base percentage in the conference. Ballin has 24 walks on the year with nine HBP.
AAC Weekly Awards
Senior outfielder Mason Lytle garners his third American Athletic Conference Player of the Week award in his career, the conference office announced at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Apr. 14. Lytle was stellar at the plate this weekend as he batted .463, racking up six hits, including two doubles and one homer. Lytle drove in five runs for UTSA and recorded four runs on the weekend. On Saturday against Wichita State, Lytle was just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Lytle is leading the conference in at-bats, runs, and hits.
The Roadrunners have now won four Player of the Week awards this year: Lytle with two, Drew Detlefsen and Andrew Stucky. Braylon Owens is the only UTSA pitcher to be named Pitcher of the Week. Conor Myles was named to this week’s Honor Roll, becoming the fourth Roadrunner named to that list, joining the likes of Caden Miller, Robert Orloski and Owens.
All he does is win
Sophomore pitcher Orloski has done great work coming out of the bullpen as he has appeared in 14 games, racking up seven wins in the process, which puts him third in the nation. Orloski has pitched in 41.2 innings, striking out 41 batters and holding his opponents to a .197 batting average with one save.
Leading the League
UTSA currently leads the American Athletic Conference in seven different statistical measures, which are batting average (.322), slugging percentage (.488), on-base percentage (.430), runs (311), hits (404), RBIs (285) and total bases (612)
Lytle is leading the league in at-bats (158), runs (47) and hits (61). Drew Detlefsen is leading The American in RBIs (57) and total bases (96). Andrew Stucky is leading the league in slugging percentage and Jordan Ballin is on top of the league with a .558 on-base percentage.
At-Home Dominance
The Roadrunners are 17-1 at home, outscoring their opponents 186-73. UTSA has a batting average of .359 at the bird bath, with the pitching staff holding an ERA of 2.95 at home.
UTSA vs. Ranked Opponents
Since taking over the program in 2020, Pat Hallmark is 19-21 against ranked foes. With their most recent win coming against No. 8 Texas on Mar. 18, the Roadrunners’ highest-ranked win came against #2 Stanford in 2022. UTSA is now 3-2 against ranked foes as they have beaten No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 20 DBU and No. 8 Texas.
Win Streak
After starting off the season 1-3, the Roadrunners ripped off a 14-game win streak, which is now the UTSA baseball team’s longest win streak in program history, beating a 12-game win streak set by the 1994 team.
The streak started with a 6-5 win over Long Island University on Feb. 22. The win streak continued until Mar. 9 with a 7-4 win over Texas Southern. With 13 of the 14 games played at home, UTSA took down No. 14 Texas A&M in College Station on Mar. 4. The streak finally ended with a loss to UIW on Mar. 11.
Taussig Tanks
Taussig had an outstanding week, in Mar. 11-Mar. 16 as he blasted four home runs in the three games against Dallas Baptist. Taussig batted .538 on the week, racking up 11 RBIs with an outstanding 1.462 slugging percentage.
Hallmark’s 150th
Head coach Pat Hallmark earned his 150th career win with UTSA on Saturday, Mar. 1 defeating the YSU 16-13. Hallmark is just the third UTSA head coach to reach at least 150 wins in program history.
No Free Bags
The Roadrunners hold a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.77, which is 15th in the nation and second in the American Athletic Conference. They also have a 3.19 ratio of walks per nine innings, which is seventh in the nation.
Doubles and Jacks
The Roadrunner offense has come alive as they have racked up 87 doubles on the year, putting them in second place among the AAC. UTSA has 37 homers, which is tied for fourth in the conference. Drew Detlefsen leads the team in homers with 11 to his name, which is tied for first in the conference.
Energy Stu
Senior catcher Andrew Stucky, whose name is pronounced STEW-key, was the inspiration for a team mantra, Energy Stu. Comes from a phrase shouted to the team to raise the energy at practice.
The Return of Malone
Former pitcher Luke Malone rejoins the Roadrunners in a different capacity as he joined the coaching staff in October 2024 as the Director of Player Development and Analytics.
Malone was a star pitcher for the Roadrunners from 2020 to 2023, earning all-conference accolades in each of his final two seasons. The right-hander finished his career with a 17-9 record, 4.45 ERA, 178 strikeouts and a pair of saves in 63 appearances that totaled 234.2 innings pitched.
2024 AAC All-Freshman Team
The Roadrunners welcome back both Diego Diaz and Orloski, who both made the 2024 AAC All-Freshman Team. Both Diaz and Orloski are already seeing significant action for the Roadrunners.
Diaz has started eight games for the Roadrunners at second base, playing in a total of 18 games. Orloski has pitched in 11 games for the Roadrunners, tallying 36 innings pitched with 35 strikeouts and 15 walks with seven wins and one save.
Preseason AAC Rankings
After finishing 17-10 to finish second in the American Athletic Conference in 2024, their first year in the league, the Roadrunners were picked to finish fourth by the league’s coaches in 2025.
Lytle’s Accomplishments
Senior outfielder Mason Lytle has racked up an impressive list of awards entering his senior campaign. In his first year with the Roadrunners, Lytle was named 2024 AAC Newcomer of the Year while also being named to the AAC All-Academic Team.
Leading up to the 2025 season, Lytle has been named as the 2025 Preseason Player of the Year, the 2025 D1Baseball AAC Preseason Player of the Year and to the 2025 Perfect Game College Baseball Preseason AAC All-Conference Team. He was also named the 32nd-best outfielder in the nation, according to D1Baseball.
The Hodge Brothers
UTSA has a pair of brothers on the team, Ty Hodge and Nathan Hodge. The Hodge brothers come from College Station, Texas, but have two different paths in finding their way to UTSA. T. Hodge is a transfer from Houston Christian who spent a year at Texas A&M. N. Hodge is a true freshman.
Home Grown
28 of the 38 players on the roster are from Texas, making up just shy of 75 percent of the roster. These players range from southern Texas, such as Pharr, all the way up to northern Texas, such as Mansfield. Josh Vaughn is the lone Roadrunner who calls San Antonio home.
Overseas Roadrunners
The Roadrunners have two players who come from outside of America, Lorenzo Morresi and Conor Myles. Morresi is from Macerata, Italy. Before coming to UTSA, Morressi spent two seasons in Hobbs, New Mexico, playing at NMJC.
Myles comes from the southern hemisphere, calling Melbourne, Australia, home. Myles spent two seasons in west Texas, as he played for Odessa JC before coming to play for the Roadrunners.
Fresh-faced Freshmen
UTSA has seven true freshmen on the roster and two redshirt freshmen. The two redshirt freshmen are Ryan Jester, who spent last season with the Roadrunners, and Holden Harris, who comes to UTSA after spending the 2024 season at TCU.
The seven true freshmen are Peyton Adams, Jordan Ballin, Mason Jacob, N. Hodge, Ryley Chapman, Todd Rochelle and Caden Miller.
Up Next
After the weekend series, UTSA will take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Apr. 22, at Chapman Field in Corpus Christi, Texas.
-UTSA-