BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Roadrunners are set to take on UAB in a three-game series against UAB with the first game starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 4, They will then play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 5, game three of the series will be played 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game of the doubleheader at Young Memorial Field in Birmingham, Ala.
The Matchup
The 23-8 (5-1) UTSA Roadrunners are set to take on the 17-12 (2-4) UAB Blazers in a three-game American Athletic Conference Series. This is the Roadrunners’ third conference series of the season and the second AAC road series.
Due to weather, both the second and third games of the series will be played on Saturday instead of the second game on Saturday, Apr. 5 and the third game on Sunday, Apr. 6.
The weekend series will be broadcast on ESPN+, and Curt Bloom will be on the call. Live stats for the game will be on utsa.statbroadcast.com.
Series History
UTSA is 11-6 all-time against UAB, holding a road record of 6-4 over the Blazers. These two teams first faced off against each other in 2014, when the Roadrunners won 4-1.
Last season, UTSA defeated UAB in a three-game series, winning two of the three games played at Roadrunner Field. In their previous road series, UTSA defeated UAB in two of the three games played in 2023.
On the Mound
Zach Royse will be the Friday starter; this will be his eighth start of the season. Royse has an ERA of 5.87 with 38.1 innings pitched tallying 42 strikeouts. Braylon Owens is set to start the Saturday game in his eighth start of the season. He has an ERA of 4.58 with 39.1 innings pitched with 42 strikeouts.
Connor Myles will be the starter in the series finale, which is also his eighth start of the season. Myles has an ERA of 4.13 in 28.1 innings pitched, with 33 strikeouts under his belt.
Last Time Out
The Roadrunners fell to the TCU Horned Frogs 5-4 in a Tuesday night bout. Norris McClure shined as he went 3-for-4 in that game. James Taussig recorded two RBIs in his outing.
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 108 RBIs which is 46.6 percent of UTSA’s total RBIs. Lytle, Taussig and Detlefsen have a total of 16 homers which is over half of the total home runs the Roadrunners have hit.
UTSA RPI
The Roadrunners currently have an RBI ranking of 41, according to NCAA. This is a 30-spot jump from their last ranking which was previously 71. The 41 ranking is just one short of where Warren Nolan has the Roadrunners as they have UTSA at No. 40.
Roadrunners in the top 30
The Roadrunners have been making noise across the nation as they rank inside the top thirty in batting average, fielding percentage, HBP, Hits, on-base percentage, runs, sacrifice flies, strikeout-to-walk ratio, win percentage and walks per nine innings.
AAC Weekly Awards
Owens had an outstanding week, picking up two wins on the mound for the Roadrunners. The first win came against No. 8 Texas when UTSA was able to pull off the upset. In that game, Owens threw 1.2 innings, giving up just one run. Owens started in the UTSA win over Charlotte on Saturday, Mar. 22. Owens threw a career-high eight innings, giving up just two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts. On the week Owens had a 1.86 ERA in 9.2 innings of work giving up just eight hits.
Andrew Stucky could not be stopped as he recorded three home runs this week with five RBIs. Stucky hit those three home runs in three straight games. Stucky was the one who propelled the Roadrunners to the win over No. 8 Texas as he hit a two-out homer in the top of the 12th inning to put the Roadrunners up 8-7 Stucky recorded a slugging percentage of .938 as he also had one double on the week.
UTSA has now won three Player of the Week awards this year: Lytle, Detlefsen, and Stucky. Owens is the first UTSA pitcher to be named Pitcher of the Week. Four Roadrunners have been named to the Weekly Honor Roll: Caden Miller, Robert Orloski, Owens and Taussig.
All he does is Win
Sophomore pitcher Orloski had done great work coming out of the bullpen as he has appeared in 11 games, racking up seven wins in the process which puts him tied for first in the nation. Orloski has pitched in 36 innings, striking out 35 batters and holding his opponents to a .223 batting average with one save.
Leading the League
UTSA currently leads the American Athletic Conference in eight different statistical measures which are batting average (.317), on-base percentage (.427), runs (255), hits (324), RBIs (232), total bases (482), hit-by-pitches (63) and stolen bases (45).
Lytle leads the American in at-bats (132) and runs (39) Detlefsen leads the AAC in RBIs (48), total bases (77) and slugging percentage (.631). Detlefsen’s 48 RBIs also puts in in
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 3.18, which is sixth in the nation and first in the American Athletic Conference. They also have a 2.91 ratio of walks per nine innings, which is fifth in the nation.
Doubles and Jacks
The Roadrunner offense has come alive as they have racked up 61 doubles on the year, putting them in second place among the AAC. UTSA has 29 homers which is tied for fourth in the conference. Detlefsen leads the team in homers with eight to his name, which is tied for first in the conference.
Energy Stu
Senior catcher 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 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, the Roadrunners will head south to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Apr. 8, at Chapman Field in Corpus Christi, Texas.
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