Leading the American

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UTSA Baseball is one-third of the way through its conference season and the Roadrunners find themselves in first place in the American Conference. In the preseason predictions, the Roadrunners were picked to finish third but they have positioned themselves to make a run at the regular season title in the inaugural run through the American.

The Roadrunners have started 7-2 in conference play thanks to taking two of three against current second-place East Carolina two weekends ago, sweeping Tulane in New Orleans, and taking two of three against Charlotte this weekend. As of the standings on April 8, Tulane was eighth in the conference and Charlotte was seventh.

UTSA fell in the opener to Charlotte on Friday and then run-ruled the 49ers on both Saturday and Sunday. Through their first nine games in conference play, UTSA has outscored its opponents 81-52.

It is the fourth time in program history that the Roadrunners have gone 7-2 or better through the first nine games in conference play. Surprisingly the three UTSA teams to make the NCAA tournament are not among those teams that had the best starts in conference play.

The first Roadrunner squad to start 7-2 or better in the conference was in 1996. Those Roadrunners did it with a sweep of McNeese State and series wins over Northwestern State and Louisiana-Monroe in the Southland Conference. That team ended up going 10-11 the rest of the conference season and was eliminated in two games in the conference tournament.

UTSA had to wait 11 years before the next Roadrunner team had such a good start. The 2007 Roadrunners had the best nine-game start to a conference season in program history, opening Southland play that year 9-0 with sweeps of McNeese State, Central Arkansas, and Southeastern Louisiana. The 2007 Roadrunners wound up with the best conference record of any team in program history going 24-6 in the Southland Conference. UTSA earned the one seed in the tournament that year but finished 2-2 and a game short of the championship game.

It wasn't until last season that UTSA had a baseball team come close to the heights of the 2007 squad. The 2023 Roadrunners fell a game short of matching the 2007 club for the best start to conference play. Last year UTSA opened their final season in Conference USA with an 8-1 record through the first nine games. UTSA swept Florida Atlantic then took two of three against Rice before sweeping Western Kentucky. Last year's Roadrunners won the second most conference games in program history going 21-8 in their final season in Conference USA. The Roadrunners then went 0-2 in their final Conference USA tournament.

This year's Roadrunners will have a chance to add to their fast start. This weekend UTSA is at Memphis, sixth in the standings as of April 8. After that, they host ninth-place UAB and visit last-place Rice at the end of the month. May will be a tough stretch as the Roadrunners face the teams currently in fifth (Wichita State), third (South Florida), and fourth (Florida Atlantic) to close out the conference season. Of course, many things might change between now and then.

For now, the Roadrunners just need to keep their fast start going and the 2024 version might be able to reach the heights of past Roadrunner teams in conference play and ultimately put themselves in a position to join the 1994, 2005, and 2013 teams by earning a spot in the NCAA tournament.

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way