UTSA Baseball swept by Dallas Baptist

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All season long UTSA and Dallas Baptist had battled each other for the top spot in conference play week after week. This past weekend the two schools finally met at Roadrunner Field to decide who would be the top team in the conference standings.

Both teams entered the series holding spots in the numerous top 25 rankings for baseball. It was the first time in the history of Roadrunner Field that two ranked teams played each other on its faux grass surface.

As it has many times this season weather played a part in the Roadrunners schedule. The threat of heavy rain in the San Antonio area meant that the series schedule was changed from three games in three days to a Friday doubleheader and the third game played on Sunday afternoon.

UTSA were first on the board in game one of the doubleheader with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. That lead was short lived as Dallas Baptist scored three in the top of the third to go up 3-2. UTSA tied the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the third. Dallas Baptist broke the 3-3 tie with a five run fifth inning.

The Roadrunners cut the deficit to 8-5 with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Dallas Baptist went up 11-5 with three runs in the top of the eighth. UTSA cut the deficit to 11-7 with two runs in the bottom of the ninth and had a chance to cut further into the deficit but were unable to before Dallas Baptist recorded the final out of the game.

45 minutes after the first game ended the Roadrunners and Patriots were back out for game two of the Friday doubleheader. Leyton Barry got the Roadrunners on the board first with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. Dallas Baptist were kept off the board until the top of the third inning when the Patriots put five runs on the board.

UTSA cut the deficit to 5-3 with two runs in the bottom of the third inning. The score stood at 5-3 until Dallas Baptist scored twice in the sixth inning to go up 7-3. Dallas Baptist added another run in the seventh to go up 8-3 before UTSA scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to get within three runs of the Patriots.

Dallas Baptist added a run in the top of the eighth inning to go up 9-5. The Roadrunners got back into a tie game with four runs in the bottom of the eighth before the Patriots scored twice in the top of the ninth for the 11-9 win. It was the first time this season the Roadrunners lost two games in a row.

Both teams had to wait until Sunday afternoon to resume the series. Unlike the Friday doubleheader the Patriots took the drama out of the game early. Dallas Baptist scored three runs in the top of the first inning and five runs in the top of the second to go up 8-0. UTSA scored a run in both the second and third innings to cut the deficit to 8-2.

Dallas Baptist scored a run in the top of the fourth to go up 9-2. UTSA cut into the deficit to 9-6 with two runs in the fourth and two runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Roadrunners were unable to get anymore runs after that and the game ended with UTSA on the short end of the 9-6 scoreline. It was the first time UTSA had been swept at home since the 2021 season.

UTSA closed out the week with a trip to Abilene Christian on Tuesday afternoon. It was only the second time ever that UTSA and Abilene Christian met in baseball and the first game between the two in Abilene. The Roadrunners suffered their fourth straight loss when Abilene Christian came from behind to win 10-8.

The loss to Abilene Christian closed the book on midweek games for UTSA in the 2023 regular season. The Roadrunners went 7-6 in midweek games this season.

UTSA will look to snap its four game losing streak this weekend in the regular season finale at Louisiana Tech. The three game series will run from Thursday to Saturday.

A year ago UTSA and Louisiana Tech met in the championship game of the conference tournament with the Bulldogs winning on a walkoff in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Roadrunners of this year are in the midst of their longest losing streak since the 2021 season when they closed that season losing five in a row. Louisiana Tech has gone 26-27 this season and 14-13 in Conference USA. The Bulldogs are in a three-way tie for fifth with Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee. UTSA is locked into the two seed at the conference tournament later this month.

Louisiana Tech has an 18-11 record at home compared to UTSA's road record of 11-8. The Bulldogs have scored 321 runs this season and given up 343 runs. UTSA has scored 402 runs and given up 287 this season.

The Bulldogs have a team batting average of .250. UTSA has a team batting average of .312. Opponents of the Bulldogs are hitting .296 against a pitching staff with a cumulative ERA of 5.94. UTSA's opponents are hitting .276 against a Roadrunner pitching staff that has an ERA of 4.84.

This weekend will be the last regular season series for UTSA baseball as members of Conference USA and the last time they face Louisiana Tech as conference foes. Louisiana Tech leads the all-time series with UTSA 18-15 dating back to the 2001 season. The Roadrunners are 9-10 all-time in Ruston. As a conference series the Bulldogs lead 17-13 and 9-7 in games in Ruston.

Last year the Bulldogs won two of three against UTSA at Roadrunner Field in the regular season before ending the Roadrunners season in the conference tournament championship game.

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way