SAN ANTONIO – On Sunday, UTSA Baseball completed its first sweep of an American Conference foe this season. The Roadrunners took down Wichita State by a 6-3 score, led by a career day on the bump from Jake Qualia. After taking both installments of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Navy & Orange wrapped up the series with another win, climbing to 33-14 with a 15-6 mark in league play. Meanwhile, WSU (26-23, 10-11) suffered its first sweep in conference play this year.
FIRST INNING
True freshman Jake Qualia earned his first collegiate weekend start on Sunday, heading to the mound first. On just eight pitches, the Shockers went down in order with a trio of groundouts. The Roadrunners’ streak of explosive first innings came to an end with a 1-2-3 frame of their own, leaving both squads still in search of a baserunner heading into the second.
SECOND INNING
A leadoff walk went unsupported as Qualia punched out the final two batters of the frame. In the home side, Andrew Stucky led off with a double before Diego Diaz walked. A sacrifice bunt preceded a Jordan Ballin RBI groundout for the game’s first score. The damage stopped there, with the Navy & Orange up 1-0 through two.
THIRD INNING
Following yet another scoreless frame on just five pitches from Qualia, the hosts got back to work at the plate. Caden Miller was plunked before Drew Detlefsen singled up the middle, leaving runners at the corners for Lane Haworth. A wild pitch on a 1-2 count got away from the catcher, advancing both runners and handing the ‘Runners a 2-0 advantage.
FIFTH INNING
The second offering of the away half went over the wall in center field, cutting the Shockers’ deficit to one. No other threats came to pass before Qualia escaped the frame, tying his season best with 5.0 innings tossed, doing so on just 54 pitches. Miller led things off with a first-pitch double before Detlefsen drew a base on balls and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Lane Haworth then ripped a drive deep to left field, notching his team-high eighth sacrifice fly and scoring Miller to build a 3-1 edge.
SIXTH INNING
After 5.0 innings of work, WSU turned the page on the mound, subbing out their starter. A pair of free bases preceded a sacrifice bunt and yet another wild pitch, swelling UTSA’s lead to 4-1 entering the game’s final third.
SEVENTH INNING
A one-out solo home run for WSU was tallied before Qualia’s final out of the afternoon, which came on a looking strikeout. Eventually, Sam Simmons exited the frame still up 4-2 in what would prove to be his fifth save of the season.
EIGHTH INNING
Back-to-back singles set up a run-scoring double play for Brian Green’s squad that cut the margin to 4-3. Ballin was then struck to start his squad’s final trip to the plate before Aidan Eshelman’s sacrifice bunt moved the second baseman to scoring position. A deep flyout placed him 90 feet away before another costly wild pitch put the hosts back up by two. A two-out Miller walk then came just one pitch ahead of a Detlefsen double off the right-center wall that plated the sophomore. UTSA jumped ahead 6-3 on what was the final RBI of the series.
NINTH INNING
Simmons’ only punchout of the day got the 1,079 spectators on their feet with one out remaining. Eventually, Aidan Eshelman secured his sixth putout of the day, snagging a popup in shallow left field to clinch UTSA’s first sweep in league play by a 6-3 margin.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
- UTSA climbed to 7-2 all-time against Wichita State, moving to 4-2 at home.
- Jake Qualia’s first collegiate weekend start resulted in a career day with 6.2 innings pitched and three strikeouts.
- WSU tallied just three hits and two runs off the freshman, both coming via solo blasts.
- In 22 of their past 27 outings, the ‘Runners have stranded seven or more men on base.
- The nine runners left on Sunday were good for the 10th game during the stretch (since March 17) with at least that many.
- Pat Hallmark’s bunch improved to 28-10 when drawing at least four walks this season, tallying seven in the win.
- The Roadrunners recorded all three wins this weekend without notching a single four-bagger, despite ranking second in the conference for both home runs and home runs per game entering the matchup.
- Sam Simmons picked up his fifth save of 2026 with 2.1 innings of relief and just one run allowed.
- The Roadrunners now hold a two-game lead and the head-to-head tiebreaker over East Carolina, who sits alone in second place at 13-8 in American Conference play.
- UAB entered the weekend amid a three-way tie at the top of the league leaderboard, but was swept by Rice. The Dragons dropped to 12-9 in conference action.
- Caden Miller scored half of his squad’s six runs, finishing as the only Roadrunner with more than one.
- Drew Detlefsen’s two hits led UTSA on what was a five-hit day for the hosts.
- The Navy & Orange only have fewer than five hits in two games this season, making Sunday their third-lowest total on the campaign.
UP NEXT
Following their series with the Shockers, the Roadrunners will hit the road on Tuesday, May 5. UTSA is set to visit No. 4 Texas (35-10) in a rematch of last year’s classic NCAA Regional. Pat Hallmark’s squad looks for its fourth straight victory at UFCU Disch-Faulk Field and its second top-10 upset of the season. All the action from Austin will be streamed live on SEC Network+ and available to follow via utsa.statbroadcast.com.
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