One last run in Conference USA
UTSA baseball prepares for final season in Conference USA picked fifth in the preseason poll
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A year ago UTSA's baseball team had one of the best seasons in its 31st season of baseball. The Roadrunners went 38-20, the first winning season since the 2018 Roadrunners. UTSA was one win away from tying the school record of 39 wins in a season set by the 2008 Roadrunners.
The Roadrunners came within half an inning of reaching that 39th win as well a trip to the NCAA tournament, falling to Louisiana Tech in a walk-off in the Conference USA tournament championship game in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Even after losing to Louisiana Tech, UTSA had an RPI of 39. Despite such a high ranking, UTSA was not chosen for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Roadrunners were the highest ranked team in the country not selected to the national tournament.
UTSA reached the conference tournament championship as the five seed and beat top seed Southern Miss twice in the tournament as well as a win over four seed Florida Atlantic in the first round.
Another highlight for the Roadrunners in 2022 was beating then number two ranked Stanford in a walkoff win at Roadrunner Field. It was the Roadrunners first win over a top-10 opponent since beating number one ranked Baylor at Wolff Stadium in 2012.
UTSA will be entering the fourth year with Pat Hallmark as head coach. For Hallmark it is his sixth season coaching college baseball in the city of San Antonio after he was coach at UIW for two years prior to coming to UTSA before the 2020 season.
The loss in the conference tournament championship game should help provide added motivation for a Roadrunner baseball program searching for its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2013. That year the Roadrunners won the Western Athletic Conference tournament championship over Dallas Baptist to earn a spot in the Corvallis Oregon regional. UTSA lost to Oregon State 5-4 and Texas A&M 6-1 in 2013.
Now the Roadrunners will enter their final season as members of Conference USA while welcoming Dallas Baptist as the newest member of Conference USA. It would be something if UTSA and Dallas Baptist met in the Conference USA tournament championship game this season.
Roadrunners trying for first trip to NCAA tournament since 2013
UTSA will begin the 2023 season this weekend hosting a three game series against the Tarleton State Texans. The Roadrunners opened the 2022 season at Tarleton State in Stephenville and won two of three in the series.
This season UTSA will open the season with eight straight home games. After this weekend against Tarleton, UTSA will host Houston next wednesday night and then host St. Mary's College for a four game series next weekend. UTSA's first road game will be at Baylor on February 28.
The Roadrunners will open conference play on March 17 with a weekend series against Florida Atlantic. UTSA will not have a weekend series on the road until the weekend of March 24-26 when they travel to Rice. The Rice series will also be UTSA's first road games in conference play.
UTSA will host weekend series against Florida Atlantic, WKU, Middle Tennessee, Rice and Dallas Baptist in conference play. The Roadrunners will have road series at Rice, Charlotte, FIU, UAB and Louisiana Tech.
The departure of Southern Miss from Conference USA means the conference tournament will be in a new location this year. The 2023 Conference USA tournament will be hosted by Rice at Reckling Park in Houston between May 24-28.
On the field UTSA will have replace the output of a fearsome foursome of hitters from last year. Ian Bailey, Ryan Flores, Chase Keng and Jonathan Tapia accounted for 44 of the Roadrunners 69 home runs last year, 211 of the Roadrunners 432 runs batted in and 221 of the Roadrunners 467 runs scored last season.
UTSA does have some contributors from last season returning. Leyton Berry returns after leading the Roadrunners in batting average and hits last season. Shane Sirdashney returns after racking up 81 total bases, a slugging percentage of .482 and 54 hits.
The Roadrunners could find new power from a pair of incoming transfers who once played for Hallmark at UIW.
Antonio Valdez, from Corpus Christi, is an infielder who played for Hallmark as a freshman in 2019 before transferring to San Jacinto College and Baylor. Now Valdez arrives at UTSA where he will have a chance to be a key contributor.
Taylor Smith, from Georgetown, is a first baseman/catcher who also played for Hallmark at UIW in 2019. Smith then transferred to Grayson Junior College and more recently was at Texas A&M. Smith brings versatility to the Roadrunners lineup.
On the mound UTSA will have its top three pitchers in terms of earned run average coming back. Luke Malone led the Roadrunners with a 2.67 ERA, 62 strikeouts and went 9-3 last season. Malone also led the Roadrunners with 11 starts last season.
Daniel Shafer became the Roadrunners top closer last season, racking up five saves with a 3.29 ERA and a 3-1 record. John Chomko had the third lowest ERA for the Roadrunners last season at 3.63. Chomko also had a 2-0 record in 14 appearances last season.
Other pitchers of note include Simon Miller, Daniel Garza and Ryan Ward. All of the players on the roster will play a part in how the Roadrunners 2023 season plays out.
UTSA is picked to finish fifth in Conference USA. That happens to be the seed the Roadrunners had in the conference tournament last season. This year the Roadrunners will be hoping to get back to the conference tournament championship game and get the win.
It would keep a tradition going for UTSA baseball. The Roadrunners won conference tournaments and made NCAA tournaments as members of the Southland Conference and the WAC. They have one last chance to accomplish that as a member of Conference USA before moving on to the American.
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