HOUSTON – On Friday, UTSA Baseball took on Rice for the midway point of its series at Reckling Park. The Roadrunners silenced the Owl offense to the tune of a three-hit shutout, prevailing 8-0. Conor Myles was hyper-efficient in the longest outing by a Roadrunner on the bump this season. With the win, the visitors improved to 21-10 with a 5-3 American Conference record. Rice’s four-game winning streak was snapping, dropping to 19-13 overall and 4-4 in league play.
FIRST INNING
Lane Haworth’s two-out hit was not capitalized on, bringing out Conor Myles for his sixth start of 2026. The Australian mowed down the Owls in order, setting the tone in his standout day on the mound with a 1-2-3 first.
SECOND INNING
With one away, Diego Diaz walked, later stealing second base to reach scoring position. The junior made his way to third on Christian Hallmark’s sacrifice bunt, bringing up Aidan Eshelman with two outs. The freshman ripped a ball to the first baseman, squeaking it through to the outfield and plating Diaz for the game’s first run. After the Owls went down in order again, UTSA held a 1-0 edge in the early stages.
FOURTH INNING
After needing just six pitches to exit the third, Myles allowed his first hit to lead off the fourth on a well-placed bunt. The Owls advanced their runner to third with a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. However, in another six-pitch inning, the hosts went down scoreless.
FIFTH INNING
A pair of Roadrunner hits posed a threat, but no runs came across for the visitors. In the home half, Myles matched his season-long outing by wrapping up his fifth complete inning. The frame ended on a double play from Caden Miller to Aidan Eshelman, holding Rice scoreless with just one hit on the board.
SEVENTH INNING
With both sides failing to produce a sixth-inning hit, UTSA got back to work on offense. Aidan Eshelman was walked on four pitches before Jordan Ballin ripped a single to left field. Caden Miller then earned a four-pitch walk of his own after a pitching change to load the bases. Drew Detlefsen followed up with an RBI base knock to double the lead. Lane Haworth’s ensuing at-bat resulted in a fielder’s choice with an Owl error scoring an additional run at 4-0.
In the Rice half, a walk and a hit came to bear with just one away, prompting Pat Hallmark to opt for Christopher Gutierrez out of the bullpen. The freshman retired the only two batters he faced, planting the hosts’ seventh straight zero on the scoreboard.
EIGHTH INNING
Garrett Gruell led off with a pinch-hit, unorthodox triple off the wall before being replaced by Brandon Bishop on the basepaths. After the next two batters were retired, Eshelman was walked and Ballin was plunked. With the bases juiced, Caden Miller was hit by the first pitch of his at-bat, advancing Bishop 90 feet to score. Drew Detlefsen brought a pair home with a hard-hit single on the next offering, opening up a 7-0 lead.
Connor Kelley took over UTSA pitching duties, entering for the final two innings. Aside from a hit batter and a single with two outs, the junior struck out the side, cueing the game’s final inning up seven.
NINTH INNING
Bishop led off with a free trip to first before Diego Diaz matched. The pair headed to scoring position with one away, setting up Aidan Eshelman’s second career sacrifice fly. The drive brought Bishop around for the eighth and final run of the game. In the closing stanza, Kelley struck out three more Owls, completing a nine-inning, three-hit shutout for the Roadrunner pitching staff.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
- UTSA improved to 26-31 all-time against Rice, climbing to 13-22 on the road.
- The ‘Runners are now 7-7 in true road games this spring.
- UTSA dished out its second shutout of the season, doing so across nine innings for the first time.
- The Roadrunners matched their season-low total for hits allowed, tying their other shutout with three (March 7 at NM State).
- Conor Myles became the first Roadrunner starter to record an out in the seventh inning this season, improving to 4-1 with the victory.
- The Australian needed just 79 pitches to toss 6.1 innings, retiring 19 of 23 batters faced.
- Myles allowed just two hits without a run on Friday, dipping his season ERA to 3.67.
- After recording just one walk on Thursday, UTSA drew six on Friday while also being hit by three balls.
- For the first time in six days, UTSA played a game that was not decided in walk-off fashion.
- All six outs recorded by Connor Kelley came via punchouts. The junior tossed the final two innings in the win, striking out a half dozen Owls.
- Drew Detlefsen spearheaded the offense with three of his side’s six RBIs.
- The senior was the only Roadrunner with three hits, doing so in five trips to the plate.
- Caden Miller notched another two-hit day while also being hit by a pitch and walking once.
- Garrett Gruell’s eighth-inning triple was his second of the season and UTSA’s seventh overall.
- Jordan Ballin, Aidan Eshelman and Brandon Bishop each scored two runs on Friday, with Bishop doing so for the first time as a member of the Navy & Orange.
UP NEXT
This weekend’s finale will commence at Noon CT on Saturday from Reckling Park. The rubber match will feature UTSA in search of its 14th straight regular-season conference series victory. All the action from Bayou City will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via utsa.statbroadcast.com.
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