UTSA enters stretch run of season

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All season two things have stood true for UTSA baseball. They've been battling Dallas Baptist for top spot in the Conference USA standings. They've also had moments of struggle in midweek games.

This past week those two truths continued. UTSA went into its weekend series at UAB just a half game back of Dallas Baptist but a loss on Friday night coupled with DBU sweeping Rice led to UTSA falling a game and a half back of DBU. On Tuesday night the Roadrunners played their final midweek game at home this season and got mauled by the Sam Houston Bearkats.

UTSA traveled to Birmingham this past weekend to face a UAB team that has been battling with FIU to escape the basement of the Conference USA standings.

On Friday night the Blazers stunned the Roadrunners by winning the first game of the series 4-2. UAB scored all of their runs in the bottom of the fourth inning off Roadrunner starter Luke Malone. UTSA's normally potent offense was held scoreless for the first five innings but only managed a run in the sixth and ninth innings before falling 4-2.

UTSA got off to a better start on Saturday afternoon. The Roadrunners scored two runs in the top of the first inning. UAB scored three in the bottom of the second to go in front 3-2. The Blazers added a run in both the fourth and fifth innings to go up 5-2. It looked as though UTSA might drop a second game in the series to a Blazers team looking to climb the standings. Antonio Lopez had other ideas. In the top of the ninth Lopez hit a three-run home run that was part of a four-run inning that gave UTSA the 6-5 win.

The Roadrunners were able to pick up their 10th series win of the season on Sunday with a 9-4 win over the Blazers. UTSA fell behind early, 2-1 but broke the game open in the middle innings, scoring two runs in the fourth and four runs in the fifth to go up 7-3. UAB cut the deficit to 7-4 before the Roadrunners scored runs in the eighth and ninth inning to leave Alabama with another series win.

Winning the series allowed UTSA to move from number 25 to number 22 in the Baseball America poll. UTSA also ranked number 22 in D1 Baseball top 25 rankings, 24 in the perfect game rankings and 25 in the NCBWA rankings.

The Roadrunners carried those rankings into Tuesday night's final midweek home game of the season against Sam Houston on Tuesday night. UTSA fell behind early, giving up four runs in the top of the first and didn't recover, losing to Sam Houston 18-2.

UTSA will finish the season 3-2 in midweek home games. There are still six home games left for the Roadrunners starting this weekend against Rice.

10 years ago when UTSA first joined Conference USA Rice was one of the baseball powers in the conference. In recent years the roles have reversed and now UTSA is one of the powers in the conference while Rice is near the bottom of the standings.

UTSA and Rice met earlier this season in Houston for a three game series. UTSA won two out of three in that series but the Owls outscored the Roadrunners 21-18, with 13 of those runs coming in the Owls win in the middle game of the series.

Rice will host Houston on Wednesday night before making the trip to San Antonio. The Owls have a 7-10 record on the road this season. Rice has scored 213 runs and given up 256 runs this season. UTSA counters with 342 runs for and 225 runs against this season.

The Owls have a team batting average of .241 compared to UTSA's team average of .309. Rice's pitching staff has an opponent batting average of .261 and a cumulative ERA of 5.46. UTSA's pitching staff has an opponent batting average of .269 and an ERA of 4.28.

Rice leads the all-time series with UTSA 20-16. The Roadrunners are 6-4 in the last 10 games against the Owls. UTSA is 16-16 against Rice in conference games between the two but the Owls have an 8-5 record in games played at UTSA.

UTSA still has a chance to earn the top seed in the conference tournament scheduled for later this month at Rice's Reckling Park. The Roadrunners will need to win the series against Rice to keep those hopes alive going into the final home series of the season May 12-14 against Dallas Baptist.

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