Author Archives: Jerry Briggs

NCAA baseball: Kansas State aims for a second straight regional surprise

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Here’s my second story on teams playing in the NCAA Austin Regional. In an earlier dispatch, we looked at the fourth-seeded Houston Christian Huskies. Now we’re breaking down the No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats, with the two seed UTSA Roadrunners and the No. 1 Texas Longhorns to come.

Kansas State Wildcats

Record: 31-24

Record in conference: 17-13, sixth in the Big 12

Seed in the Austin Regional: Third

Regional opener: Kansas State plays No. 2 UTSA Friday at 6 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

NCAA baseball history, highlights: The Wildcats are making their sixth NCAA appearance and their second straight. Last year, they reached the super regional round after entering the Fayetteville Regional as a No. 3 seed. They swept three straight games, including a victory over Arkansas, to reach the Charlottesville Super Regional. There, they lost two straight to Virginia.

Journey to the Austin Regional: The Wildcats had an up and down ride. They swept three pre-conference games from Arkansas, Michigan and TCU at a classic in Arlington, started Big 12 play with an 8-1 record and then lost series down the stretch to Oklahoma State, Kansas and Cincinnati. The Wildcats were 18-3 at home, 7-18 on the road and 6-3 on neutral sites.

The coach: Pete Hughes has won 851 games in his career. His head coaching career began in 1997-98 in San Antonio at Trinity University, where he was 52-30 in two seasons. He went on to coach in Division I at Boston College, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas State. Hughes is in his seventh season at K-State.

An offense with pop: The Wildcats ranked 24th in the nation with 92 home runs this year.

Southpaw city: Kansas State’s three main starters and one of its top relievers are lefthanders. Jacob Frost, Lincoln Sheffield and Michael Quevedo have combined for 42 starts. Six-foot-four Adam Arther (2.22 ERA) is a weapon out of the bullpen.

Top players: Outfielder Maximus Martin and outfielder/catcher Keegan O’Connor made all Big 12 second-team. Freshman outfielder AJ Evasco was an all freshman honoree. Home run threats include O’Connor with 16, Martin (14), Seth Dardar (12) and Dee Kennedy (11). Martin leads with a .332 average, followed by Dardar (.326), O’Connor (.323) and Evasco (.306).

Pitching struggles: The Wildcats have yielded 73 earned runs in 87 innings in May for an ERA of 7.55.

Next up: The UTSA Roadrunners

Austin Regional baseball: Taking a look at the Houston Christian Huskies

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Good evening, all. Here is the first of four graphic stories on each of the teams in this week’s NCAA Austin Regional baseball tournament. We’ll start with the fourth-seeded Houston Christian Huskies, with information to come on the No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats, the No. 2 UTSA Roadrunners and the No. 1 Texas Longhorns.

Houston Christian Huskies

Record: 32-23

Record in conference: 17-13, sixth in the Southland Conference

Seed in the Austin Regional: Fourth

Opener: The Huskies will take on the top-seeded Texas Longhorns at 1 p.m. Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

NCAA baseball history, highlights: The Huskies are making only their second trip to the NCAA tournament. In 2015, they played in Houston and lost to the top-seeded Houston Cougars 6-4 before they were eliminated by No. 2 Rice, 3-1.

Journey to the Austin Regional: Last summer, HCU promoted Clay VanderLaan from assistant to head coach following the resignation of Lance Berkman. Under Berkman, a former Houston Astros star who grew up in New Braunfels, the Huskies struggled for three seasons with a combined record of 47-104, including 27-44 in conference. Three weeks after Berkman departed, HCU offered the job to VanderLaan, who had limited experience at the collegiate level, working previously at Division II Saginaw Valley State and for a little more than one season at the NAIA University of St. Thomas in Houston. Since then, VanderLaan has stepped up to the Division I challenge, taking the Huskies to their first winning season in eight years. HCU won its last six games, including a Parker Edwards-led 5-0 sweep in the SLC postseason, to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Included in the run were two wins in Edinburg at UT Rio Grande Valley, a top 40 RPI team, and the last two in Houston against the University of New Orleans.

Top players: Multi-talented Parker Edwards earned MVP honors in the SLC tournament by starting and winning two games as a pitcher. Edwards also contributed as a hitter, lashing three hits and driving in three runs in a 16-11 title-clinching victory over New Orleans. Second-team, all-SLC outfielder Rhett Hendricks did his part with three RBI combined in the two wins over the Privateers. Other threats at the plate include Jack Walker, Kenneth Dutka and Matthew Leiterman. Edwards leads the team in both home runs (9) and RBI (47).

Pitching: Edwards, Joshua Caravalho and Ben Smith are HCU’s primary starters. Edwards is 3-4 with a 3.93 earned run average and leads the team with 84 and 2/3 innings. Caravalho is 9-3 and Smith 4-6. Ben Norton, with a 2.93 ERA. leads the relief corps with 25 appearances out of the bullpen.

Did you know: The UTSA brother duo of Ty and Nathan Hodge decommitted from HCU after Berkman’s resignation and elected to sign with the Roadrunners.

More history: Founded in the 1960, the school formerly known as Houston Baptist University played sports at the NCAA level from 1967 to 1990, including a run of 16 years in Division I through 1989. Following its initial run in the NCAA, the school aligned with the NAIA and remained at that lower level for 17 years. After re-entering NCAA Division I in 2011, HCU elected to join the Southland Conference for the 2013-14 season.

Seeded second in the NCAA Austin Regional, UTSA didn’t need to worry about being left out

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Mason Lytle, UTSA, center field.

UTSA’s Mason Lytle, the American Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year, will lead the UTSA Roadrunners into the NCAA Austin Regional on Friday in a matchup against the Big 12’s Kansas State Wildcats. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After reading through some information early Monday on how to deal with worst-case scenarios in life, UTSA’s Pat Hallmark reported to Roadrunner Field.

The coach of the American Athletic Conference’s 44-win, regular-season champions wanted to be prepared just in case something crazy happened and his team was left out of the 64-team NCAA tournament.

As it turned out, Hallmark could have skipped the philosophy lesson and maybe just kicked back and had another cup of coffee.

Pat Hallmark-title celebration

UTSA’s Pat Hallmark (at right) coached the Roadrunners to a 44-17 record, including 23-4 in the American Athletic Conference.. – File photo by Jerry Briggs

That’s because the NCAA announced that the Roadrunners will play in the national tournament this weekend at the Austin Regional.

Asked about the emotions in the locker room before the televised bracket reveal, Hallmark said there was mostly excitement.

“We thought we were in,” he said. “We put a good resume’ (out) there. The championship holds a lot of weight, from what I’m told, and the way we won (it) — four losses over a 27-game conference season, is pretty impressive.”

At that point, Hallmark started to tease assembled members of the media, testing their knowledge of Latin and ancient philosophy.

“We felt like we were in,” Hallmark said, continuing his story. “Of course, you never know. So there’s always a little bit of nagging thought. So I did a little reading this morning on Premeditatio Malorum.”

Say what?

Reporters didn’t say a word.

“You know what that means?” Hallmark asked a reporter. “(It’s) preparing for the worst. But I did think we were in.”

Armed with a 44-13 record, including 23-4 in conference, everyone associated with the program figured that they would have a place in the field.

But after a 2-2 run in the AAC tournament and an earlier than expected exit in the semifinals, a question loomed as to whether it might affect their seeding or where they would play.

That question, too, was dispelled.

UTSA, named to play in the tournament for the first time in their history with an at-large bid, drew a second seed in the region behind the host Texas Longhorns and ahead of the No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats.

The Houston Christian University Huskies were named as the fourth seed. As a result, Texas will open the regional on Friday at 1 p.m. against Houston Christian. UTSA will play Kansas State in the second game at 6 p.m.

The regional is double elimination and will run through Sunday, or, if necessary, through Monday.

For weeks, UTSA had been projected by national media outlets as a No. 2 seed, and nothing that happened last weekend at the conference tournament in Clearwater, Fla., seemed to make any difference.

Relief pitcher Robert Orloski. UTSA beat Youngstown State 4-3 on James Taussig's walk-off hit on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Relief pitcher Robert Orloski went 8-0 with a 2.92 earned run average and eight saves during the regular season. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Asked if he thinks this was a “reward bid” for the team’s body of work over the entire season, Hallmark said he doesn’t know.

“Quite frankly, I’m not sure and uh, I don’t care,” he said laughing. “We got a tough regional like they all are. So, again, we’re just eager and hungry to go to work and prepare so we give ourselves a best chance to win on Friday.”

UTSA centerfielder Mason Lytle said he likes the destination because it gives players’ families an opportunity to see the games live, without having to travel out of state.

“Wherever we were going to go, it was going to be exciting to play,” he said “(But) it’s nice playing an hour away, we’ll have fans that can travel. We have a lot of Texas people on the team, so we’ll get a lot of family. So that’ll be pretty nice.

“We’ve already played there once, so we’re pretty familiar and, uh, it’s our big brother school. So it’ll be a fun time.”

In their best win of the year, the Roadrunners defeated the “big brother” Longhorns 8-7 in 12 innings on March 18.

UTSA pitcher Robert Orloski said he started to think as early as last fall that his teammates had a chance to play in the NCAA tournament.

“We were all intense the whole time,” he said. “We never took a day off. Even when it was a lull, the team was still intense. I just think right when the fall started, we knew we had a chance, that we had a good team.”

UTSA baseball is headed to Austin for the NCAA tournament

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners will play in the Austin Regional in the NCAA baseball tournament and will face the Kansas State Wildcats on opening day Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, according to the bracket released Monday.

The Texas Longhorns are the hosts in the regional and the No. 2 overall seed in the 64-team tournament. As the regional No. 1, the Longhorns will open with the four-seed Houston Christian Huskies.

The Roadrunners are seeded second in the region, taking on the No. 3 Wildcats of the Big 12. On Friday, the Longhorns will play the Huskies at 1 p.m. The Roadrunners and the Wildcats will play at 6 p.m. Both games are on ESPN +.

For UTSA, it is the program’s first NCAA regional appearance in 12 years and fourth overall. Facing Kansas State, UTSA will be looking for its first victory in NCAA competition. The team bowed out with 0-2 records in its previous three trips.

Records

(Regional seed, school, records, conference finish)
1) Texas 42-12, 22-8, first in the Southeastern Conference
2) UTSA 44-13, 23-4, first in the American Athletic Conference
3) Kansas State 31-24, 17-13 sixth in the Big 12
4) Houston Christian 32-23, 17-13, sixth in the Southland Conference

Notable

The Roadrunners are playing in an NCAA regional for only the fourth time since the program’s inception in 1992, with the other three in 1994, 2005 and 2013.

This is UTSA’s first regional appearance after receiving an at-large bid, with the other three coming as a conference tournament winner with an automatic bid.

In the Roadrunners’ first regional, under Coach Jimmy Shankle, they played in Austin in the NCAA Central Region as the fifth seed, where they lost the first game to No. 19 Nevada 11-8 and fell to Arkansas State 10-5.

In 2005, with a team coached by Sherman Corbett, UTSA competed in the Waco Regional as the fourth seed, taking on No. 6 Baylor in the first game and losing 8-3. The Roadrunners were then eliminated in the second game against Stanford, falling 6-2.

In UTSA’s most recent regional appearance, the Roadrunners competed in the Corvallis Regional in 2013 under Jason Marshall as the fourth seed, where they fell 5-4 to No. 3 Oregon State and 6-1 to Texas A&M.

UTSA’s coach Pat Hallmark is the architect of this year’s team that set the school record for victories in a season. Hallmark, a Houston native, is in his sixth year as head coach of the Roadrunners.

Quotable

“We’re excited and ready to go to work,” Hallmark said. “That’s really the reaction. I’m antsy to get back (in the office) in RACE and pull up some video and start scouting.”

Asked if he thinks this was a “reward bid” for the team’s body of work with a two seed and a game close to home, Hallmark said he doesn’t know.

“Quite frankly, I’m not sure and uh, I don’t care,” he said laughing. “We got a tough regional like they all are. So, again, we’re just eager and hungry to go to work and prepare so we give ourselves a best chance to win on Friday.”

Coming out of the AAC tournament, Hallmark said he guessed that the NCAA committee would send UTSA to a regional in the state of Texas or in the western United States.

He said having his team prepare to play in Austin has some advantages, such as being able to stay one more night in San Antonio before traveling to Austin to practice on Thursday.

Traveling to the West Coast, he said, would have meant the team would need to leave Wednesday. Regardless, he said, the all three of his potential competitors are “really” good.

“I don’t know what regional I’d prefer,” he said. “I’ve been asked that a few times. But logistically, with travel, it’s nice. We can go up Thursday now. That’s what I’d like to do. You know, we practice Thursday at their field … So it’s another night the kids get to sleep in their own bed. We get a full practice here on Wednesday.

“Right now we need to make a few minor adjustments offensively. So there’s some things that will help, being this close to the ballpark.”

NCAA tournament looms after UTSA falls to Tulane in the AAC semifinals

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For the 44-13 UTSA Roadrunners, it’s now a waiting game. Feeling good that they’ve secured a spot in the 64-team NCAA tournament, they’ll find out on Monday at 11 a.m. where they are going and who they’ll be playing.

“I don’t know,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said. “Historically they try to keep people regionally close. But again, sometimes you see people where we are head west. I think we’ll stay in Texas, or we’ll head west. But I’m totally guessing, right?”

Hallmark made his remarks Saturday on a zoom call with the media after his Roadrunners were ousted from the American Athletic Conference tournament, falling 6-3 to the Tulane Green Wave in the semifinals.

Regardless, hopes are high for taking the next step into national competition. UTSA hasn’t played in the NCAA tournament since 2013, when they reached a regional in Corvallis, Ore.

No matter their seeding, destination or opposition, they want to build on the team’s program record for victories and on the respect they earned in claiming their first regular-season championship in 17 years.

Their season win total coming out of the tournament ranked among the best in the AAC’s 12-year history. Only East Carolina in 2023 and Louisville in 2014 had more victories (45) than the Roadrunners and the 2014 Houston Cougars (both 44) entering the NCAA regional round.

Incidentally, the other three teams outside of UTSA in that group all played in the NCAA tournament, and Louisville made it through to the College World Series.

Records also indicate that, since the AAC’s first season in 2014, every team that has won a conference regular-season title or a title share has at least reached the NCAA regionals. Moreover, the Roadrunners’ had the best in-conference record of any AAC team in history at 23-4, five games ahead of their nearest pursuer.

During their 2-2 run in Clearwater, the Roadrunners eclipsed the conference record in runs scored in a season. With the three more scored on Saturday, their total is now 502 in 57 games and counting. Asked on his postgame zoom conference to address his team’s milestone achievements, Hallmark hesitated.

He expressed mixed emotions, considering UTSA fell short of the conference’s postseason title after coming in to Clearwater seeded No. 1.

“It’s probably a little too early to dwell on (the season milestones) or get the most out of it,” the coach said. “Obviously we just played and just lost, so my mind’s still on what I could have done better. What we could have done better. Where the preparation maybe could have been better.”

Trailing by one run, the Green Wave scored once in the fifth, twice in the sixth and once more in the seventh to take charge of the game.

Relievers Carter Benbrook and Taylor Montiel closed for the two-time defending tournament champions, combining to shut out the Roadrunners over the final five and two thirds innings.

“I mean, we did think they’d go to Benbrook and Montiel, so we were totally prepared for those guys,” Hallmark said.

At that point, the coach digressed in his thoughts, returning to address the UTSA season as a whole.

“I don’t want to dodge the question,” Hallmark said. “We’re proud of what we done, but we want to keep playing. I hope we’re the last team that gets to play baseball (this season). That would be awesome.”

Speaking in the aftermath of the loss, the coach said he just wanted to get together with his players and congratulate them.

“Right now we wait to see what happens,” he said. “But I’m going to tell the guys to eat some lunch and go have a good time the rest of this afternoon. They’ve earned that. I hope they grieve a little bit and get over this loss.

“We’ll have a couple days off. We won’t practice tomorrow, for sure. We’ll travel. We might not even practice Monday. Find out what’s going on and where we’re going (in the NCAA postseason). Hopefully we’re going somewhere, and we’ll probably get back to work on Tuesday.”

Records

Tulane 33-24
UTSA 44-13

Notable

Plans for the NCAA bracket reveal on Monday aren’t settled, Hallmark said. “The team will definitely be together,” he said. “I don’t know if there’ll be any outsiders. These guys are pretty tight. I’ve already heard some rumblings that they want it pretty close-knit. So I’ll talk to my bosses and I’ll talk to the players, and I hope it’s the players’ decision.”

AAC tournament semifinals: Tulane advances to the finals after ousting top-seeded UTSA

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Good morning from San Antonio

I’m up early this morning, following the American Athletic Conference baseball tournament on ESPN +. The top-seeded UTSA Roadrunners enter the day needing to play and win two games against the Tulane Green Wave to advance to Sunday’s finals. Tulane only needs to win once. Furthermore, UTSA is in a bind, having used all three of their front-line starting pitchers this week, so Sam Simmons is on the mound to open the game. Tulane jumps on him immediately, scoring one run on three hits in the top of the first. Mattias Haas delivered an RBI single to right center, scoring Jason Wachs from third base. Wachs led off with a single and Connor Rasmussen followed with a one-out hit, another single, to put runners at first and third. Haas made it 1-0 with the third hit of the inning.

Roadrunners take the lead

It’s the top of the third inning, and the Tulane Green Wave are rallying again. This time, against UTSA pitcher Gunnar Brown. Brown replaces Sam Simmons and made it through the second inning unscathed, only to find trouble in the third. It starts with a leadoff walk to Jason Wachs and continues with a single by Gavin Schulz. On the hit, Wachs moves to third. From there, he scores on a Connor Rasmussen sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the third, the Roadrunners start to percolate. With a couple of runners on base against Trey Cehajic, Mason Lytle grounds to short on what appeared to be a routine play. But Kaikea Harrison, off balance, throws it away at first base. Both runners score and Lytle moves to second. James Taussig follows with an RBI single to right to take a 3-2 lead.

Green Wave come back to tie

In the top of the fifth, Roadrunners reliever Gunnar Brown hangs a breaking pitch and Green Wave hitter Kaikea Harrison drills it into the right field corner for a leadoff double. Later, Harrison moves to third base on a ground ball and scores to tie the game 3-3 on an RBI single by Gavin Schultz. Tulane continues to create momentum in the bottom half when reliever Carter Benbrook retires three straight, including an inning-ending strikeout against UTSA slugger James Tassig. Going back to the third inning, Benbrook has retired five straight batters. In the sixth inning, UTSA pitching falters. Brown walks two straight, prompting UTSA coach Pat Hallmark to make a change. Braylon Owens enters to pitch, only to issue another walk. With the bases loaded, Tanner Chun bounces a two-run single through the left side to make it 5-3. Owens, who started and pitched five and two thirds inning on Tuesday, settles down and struck out two straight to end the threat.

Tulane opens a three-run lead

Gavin Schulz and Connor Rasmussen continue to torment the UTSA Roadrunners. Facing UTSA’s Braylon Owens, Schulz opens the sixth with a double and moves to third on Rasmussen’s single. When Matthias Haas hits into a double play, Schulz scores from third base to make it 6-3. Carter Benbrook continues to pitch well for the Green Wave. He works around a Ty Hodge single to keep UTSA scoreless in the bottom of the seventh. Benbrook’s numbers are impressive so far, with three and two thirds innings scoreless, allowing only one hit.

Green Wave advance

Tulane wins, 6-3.

UTSA turns its attention to Tulane after eliminating FAU in the AAC baseball tournament

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Garrett Gruell broke down the plain-and-simple plans for the UTSA Roadrunners tonight in preparation for an early start on Saturday in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference postseason tournament.

“Just go to sleep a little bit earlier, drink some water,” Gruell told reporters on a zoom conference.

After eliminating the fourth-seeded Florida Atlantic University Owls Friday afternoon with a 6-3 victory, the No. 1 Roadrunners will face the Tulane Green Wave in a game that will start at 9 a.m. Saturday on the East Coast, 8 a.m. Central.

Tulane will need only one win to advance to the finals, while UTSA will need to win twice. A second game, if necessary, would be played later in the afternoon, following the AAC’s other semifinal.

UTSA is motivated for the rematch.

The Green Wave handed the Roadrunners their only loss of the tournament, hitting five home runs in a 10-6 decision Thursday at the BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla.

In the aftermath, UTSA players apparently saw something that raised their ire.

“We’re going to come out with some fire,” Gruell said. “We don’t like getting beat, especially when you act like that afterwards, so we’re going to come out and put up a fight, for sure.”

A day after losing to Tulane, UTSA responded with a quality effort against a team that had won 37 games this season.

Though the Roadrunners had swept three games from the Owls in San Antonio in March, they knew their opponent had the talent to win, and they didn’t want to leave the tournament early.

In response, they forged ahead, improving to 44-12 on a remarkable season that by all estimations is expected to extend next week with an appearance in the NCAA tournament.

“I was proud of our team,” said UTSA coach Pat Hallmark, who claimed his 250th victory as a coach. “I thought we played nine innings. That’s critical in a tournament like this. You play every at bat. You play every pitch on defense, and you give yourself a chance to win when you do that.”

Trailing 1-0 after three innings, the Roadrunners scored two runs each in the fourth, the sixth and the eighth innings to take charge. Holding on to a 4-3 lead, their two-run eighth clinched it, when they came alive against FAU relief ace MJ Bollinger.

With one out, the Roadrunners strung together singles by Drew Detlefsen, Gruell and Diego Diaz. Diaz, a sophomore from Pharr, stepped to the plate with runners at first and second base and ripped an RBI single to center, scoring Detlefsen and sending Gruell to third.

After Steven Andrews replaced Bollinger, Jordan Ballin got into the game as a pinch runner for Gruell. Ty Hodge proceeded sacrifice with a bunt that scored Ballin and made it 6-3.

Rob Orloski, making his third relief appearance of the week, had one of his first pitches of the ninth drilled to third base. But Norris McClure gloved it and threw out the runner. Orloski retired the next two, ending the game.

UTSA pitching, including Conor Myles, Kendall Dove and Orloski, held one of the best offenses in the conference to nine hits. With runners in scoring position, UTSA hurlers were extremely tough, limiting FAU to a .111 average (one for nine).

Myles pitched five innings and held the Owls to two runs (one of them earned) on seven hits and no walks. A finesse pitcher, and a lefty, Myles threw 84 pitches, including 56 for strikes. He fanned three.

“He wanted to stay in,” Hallmark said. “He kind of pissed at me when I took him out. But the plan — coach (Zach) Butler and I go into every game with a script — and the script was Myles five, Dove two and Rob two. So, (Myles) was pitching OK but he wasn’t cruising, so despite his best efforts we stuck to the script.”

Dove ended up pitching one and two thirds, while Orloski went two and a third while throwing only 24 pitches, which could come in handy in the next two days as UTSA tries to add a postseason title to the one they claimed in the regular season.

Offensively, the Roadrunners had two-hit games from McClure, who extended his batting streak to 22 games, and Detlefsen. Gruell, playing for the first time in three games this week as the designated hitter, had a hit and two RBI.

The Roadrunners seemed to get better swings as the game progressed, a trait that they have exhibited many times this season, producing seven hits combined from the sixth through the eighth innings.

Hallmark said his team is good at adjusting to situations within games.

“It’s one of two things,” he said. “We do adjust. Most of our hitters are either older hitters who have been around, so once they see a pitcher. Or, if they don’t get the at bat, they see what’s happening. They pay attention. So they can make some adjustments.

“The other thing is, they tend to like the moment. A lot of our guys like the moment. (Mason) Lytle and (James) Taussig and Norris (McClure) — today it was Garrett Gruell. Garrett Gruell was huge for us today. I think they like the moment, and the moment is usually later in games.”

With six runs scored against FAU, the Roadrunners broke the AAC record for runs in a season with 499. They broke the previous record of 498 held by East Carolina last season.

Hallmark said he is looking forward to the Tulane game.

“I hope we play two,” the coach said. “I’d love to play a lot of baseball, and I hope it’s a dogfight and nasty and ugly and all that good stuff that we like.”

Records

Florida Atlantic 37-21
UTSA 44-12

Friday’s scores

Elimination games

UTSA 6, Florida Atlantic 3 (Florida Atlantic eliminated)
South Florida 7, Charlotte 6 (Charlotte eliminated)

Saturday’s schedule

Semifinals

Tulane vs. UTSA, 8 a.m.
East Carolina vs. South Florida, 47 minutes after the first game
Tulane vs. UTSA, if necessary, TBD
East Carolina vs. South Florida, if necessary, TBD

Sunday’s schedule

Finals, 11 a.m.

Notable

With the win, the Roadrunners improved to 2-1 in Clearwater and to 15-2 in their last 17 games. Their 44 wins on the season are a school record, breaking the old record of 39. Hallmark is now 250-156 in his career, including 66-48 in two years at Incarnate Word and 184-108 at six years at UTSA.

On opening day at the AAC tournament, they downed the Rice Owls, 4-2, on Tuesday on a combined two-hitter from starter Braylon Owens and Orloski. Tulane raked for 14 hits and five homers in a 10-6 victory on Thursday. Green Wave players who homered against the Roadrunners included Mattias Haas, James Agabedis III (who had two), Theo Bryant and Jason Wachs.

UTSA pitching held FAU to nine hits, including seven singles, a double and one homer — a solo shot by Carter Brady.

The top hitters for the Roadrunners in the tournament have included Mason Lytle (six for 11 with two home runs), Taussig (five for 11) and Norris McClure (five for 13). Lorenzo Morresi has three hits, including two doubles, and three RBI in his last two games.

Pitching leaders have included Owens, who struck out 11 while yielding two runs on two hits in five and two thirds innings in the opener, and Rob Orloski.

Orloski has been a workhorse in pitching all three games, giving up one run on two hits and one walk in six innings combined. He has struck out seven. One of the hits against him was a big one, a two-run homer to Jason Wachs in a decisive three-run inning for Tulane on Thursday afternoon.

Tulane wins 10-6 to cool off top-seeded UTSA at the AAC tournament

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The two-time defending tournament champions in the American Athletic Conference have worked their postseason magic once again. Fifth-seeded Tulane bashed a season-high five home runs Thursday in a 10-6 victory over No. 1 UTSA in a winners’ bracket game at Clearwater, Fla.

With a 2-0 record this week, the Green Wave have now won eight straight at this event dating back to 2023. As a result, they will advance into Saturday’s semifinals.

The Roadrunners, now 1-1 in the American Baseball Championship, will play Friday at noon (Central time) in an elimination game against the Florida Atlantic Owls. The winner will move into Saturday’s semis needing two wins against the Green Wave to advance to Sunday’s finals.

For the third straight year, Tulane has started the tournament with two straight wins. It’s one of the reasons their players call the BayCare Ballpark their home away from home.

“I would like to think of that as a body of work,” Tulane coach Jay Uhlman said. “It doesn’t always work out the way we’ve wanted it to work out in terms of volumes of wins. But I think the thing we do is, we teach through the wins. We teach through the losses. We teach through the tough times. Our guys believe.

“We’re like family. We have arguments and fights and disagreements. I don’t give everyone what they want all the time, and that’s a hard pill to swallow. But I think the body of work as you go through a season, the trust even in times when they don’t get what they want, that we’re doing everything we can the right way.

“It’s really important.”

James Agabedis III, a Tulane junior from Sudbury, Mass., hit two of the Green Wave’s homers. He blasted solo shots in the fourth and eighth innings. All the slugging backed the pitching of left-handed relief specialist Taylor Montiel, who worked three and two thirds scoreless innings to close the game.

Monteil (5-2) allowed only one hit and one walk while striking out four. Connor Kelley (3-1) was the losing pitcher for the Roadrunners.

Trailing for most of the game, the Roadrunners came to life in the sixth with three runs to tie. UTSA strung together four hits, including an RBI single by Caden Miller and a two-run single by Lorenzo Morresi.

Morresi’s liner with the bases loaded landed safely in center field, bringing in Miller from third and James Taussig from second to tie the score, 6-6. A key play unfolded when Nathan Hodge beat out a fielder’s choice, only to be erased on double play when Moressi was called for interference on a slide at second base.

The eighth inning was the undoing for the Roadrunners, who entered with a 14-1 record in their last 15 games. First, Agabedis homered off UTSA’s Kelley to break a tie and give the Green Wave a one-run lead. After Kelley was pulled for Rob Orloski, Jason Wachs blasted a two-run shot to make it 9-6.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark tipped his cap to Monteil, a redshirt junior from Brentwood, Tenn. At one point, Monteil struck out four batters in a row.

“He’s good,” the coach said. “He’s been doing that all year. If you look at his numbers, he doesn’t get hit. I think it’s something like, it’s well less than a hit an inning … He’s got that fastball that moves. A little bit on the frontside where he hides the ball. He throws hard.

“I didn’t expect to hit him real good. But I did think if we kept it tied or within one run that anything’s possible. The two-run homer (in the eighth) after the solo hurt us a little bit. That was a bad call. Rob executed the pitch. The call was a mistake. We called a high fastball – to a high fastball hitter.”

Hallmark said UTSA is one of the few teams in the nation that have the catchers call the pitches and that Andrew Stucky and Morresi do a great job in that part of the game.

“We just happened to make a mistake there,” Hallmark said. “(The high fastball) is Rob’s best pitch. So I knew why Stucky called it. He called his pitcher’s best pitch. So, I don’t know that it’s a mistake. But, Wachs is a good high fastball hitter.”

The coach said he’s more frustrated with the pitches early in the game from starter Zach Royse that were thrown in the middle of the plate. Royse gave up six runs on seven hits, including three home runs.

Records

Tulane 32-24
UTSA 43-12

Notable

If UTSA comes up short of the title this week in Clearwater, the Roadrunners remain a strong candidate to gain an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament based on their record (43-12), their regular-season title (23-4 in conference) and their No. 22 standing in the national rating percentage index coming into Thursday.

Since the AAC baseball conference formed for the 2014 season, each team that has won or shared a regular-season title has received a bid to an NCAA regional, either with an at-large or an automatic bid. UTSA clinched a share of the AAC regular-season title on May 4 after it swept a three-game road series at South Florida. It clinched the title outright on May 9 with a road victory at East Carolina.

When UTSA swept Rice last week in San Antonio to close the regular season, it secured victories in all nine AAC series on its schedule. Five of them were three-game sweeps. Moreover, they won the AAC by five games over second-place Charlotte.

By hitting the 40-win plateau on May 15 and reaching win No. 42 after the regular-season finale last Saturday, UTSA became only the seventh AAC team in history to take 40-plus victories into the conference tournament. The previous six all eventually received NCAA bids.

NCAA selections will be announced Monday.

Thursday’s results

Tulane 10, UTSA 6
East Carolina 6, Charlotte 5

Friday’s games

FAU vs. UTSA, elimination game, noon
South Florida vs. Charlotte, elimination game, 47 minutes after the first game

Saturday’s games

Semifinals
Tulane vs. FAU or UTSA, 8 a.m.
East Carolina vs. South Florida or Charlotte, 47 minutes after the first game
Tulane vs. FAU or UTSA, if necessary, TBD
East Carolina vs. South Florida or Charlotte, if necessary, TBD

Sunday’s game

Finals
Semifinals winners play in the title game, 11 a.m.

UTSA baseball continues its conference tournament title quest in Florida

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The top-seeded UTSA Roadrunners will take on the No. 5 Tulane Green Wave today at noon (Central time) in the winners’ bracket at the American Baseball Championship.

Later today, sixth-seeded East Carolina will play No. 2 Charlotte. While the losers will play on Friday, the winners will move into the semifinals scheduled for Saturday. The tournament is double elimination through the semifinals, while the a winner-take-all game in the finals is set for Sunday.

All games are being held at the BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla.

Both Tulane and UTSA scored victories on Tuesday on the opening day of the tournament. After Tulane beat Florida Atlantic, 6-3, UTSA took the field and rallied for a 4-2 victory over Rice. Now they play today for a chance to move into the semifinals.

The champion of the American Athletic Conference’s postseason event in Clearwater will be rewarded with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. If UTSA comes up short, the Pat Hallmark-coached Roadrunners remain a strong candidate to gain an at-large NCAA bid based on their record (43-11), their regular-season title (23-4 in conference) and their No. 22 standing in the national rating percentage index.

Since the AAC baseball conference formed for the 2014 season, each team that has won or shared a regular-season title has received an at-large bid to an NCAA regional. UTSA clinched a share of the AAC regular-season title on May 4 after it swept a three-game road series at South Florida. It clinched the title outright on May 9 with a road victory at East Carolina.

When UTSA swept Rice last week in San Antonio, it secured victories in all nine AAC series on its schedule. Five of them were three-game sweeps. By hitting the 40-win plateau on May 15 and reaching No. 42 after the regular-season finale last Saturday, UTSA became only the seventh AAC team in history to take 40-plus victories into the conference tournament. The previous six all eventually received NCAA bids.

NCAA selections will be announced Monday.

Tuesday’s results

(Opening day)
Tulane 6, FAU 3
UTSA 4, Rice 2
Charlotte 7, Wichita State 1
East Carolina 9, South Florida 4

Wednesday’s results

FAU 8, Rice 6 (Rice eliminated)
South Florida 4, Wichita State 3 (Wichita State eliminated)

Thursday

(Winners’ bracket, times are Central)
UTSA vs. Tulane, noon
East Carolina vs. Charlotte, 47 minutes after the first game

Friday

(Elimination games, times are Central)
FAU vs. Tulane or UTSA, noon
South Florida vs. East Carolina or Charlotte, 47 minutes after the first game

Saturday

Semifinals
UTSA or Tulane vs TBA, 8 a.m.
East Carolina or Charlotte vs. TBA, 47 minutes after the first game
Games to follow (if necessary) to complete double elimination

Sunday

Finals
First pitch, 11 a.m.

Top-seeded UTSA rallies to beat No. 8 Rice on opening day at the AAC tournament

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After top-seeded UTSA rallied to beat the No. 8 Rice Owls 4-2 Tuesday on opening day at the American Baseball Championship, Roadrunners outfielder James Taussig vowed to take a fishing trip on an off day with some of his teammates, his brother and his father.

It’ll be on the aqua blue saltwater somewhere outside of Clearwater, Fla.

“We’re going to hit the redfish hard,” Taussig told ESPN.

Trailing by a run going into the bottom of the eighth at the BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, the Roadrunners started to hit the baseball pretty hard to stoke a game-winning rally.

The Owls had one out when starting pitcher Davion Hickson threw a curve on a 2-2 count that grazed Caden Miller in the leg, sending him to first base with a free pass. He promptly moved to third when American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Mason Lytle singled into center field, giving the Roadrunners men at the corners.

With one of the Roadrunners’ top hitters coming to the plate, Hickson knew he would need to pitch carefully. But Taussig, who was named first-team all conference in the AAC on Monday, stroked a fastball in the middle of the plate for a two-run double that allowed UTSA to take the lead.

As his line drive split the gap between the outfielders in right and center, Miller scored easily and Lytle, a speedster, made it all the way around, beating a relay throw to the plate with a slide to make it 3-2.

Later, Norris McClure sliced an RBI single into left field off reliever Garrett Stratton, bringing Taussig in to score and giving the Roadrunners a two-run cushion. Reliever Robert Orloski (8-0) shut down the Owls in order in the top of the ninth to secure the Roadrunners’ first victory in a conference tournament since 2022.

Hickson (2-7) pitched into the eighth inning and took the loss.

“Great comeback,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said on a zoom call with the media. “That’s the opening statement. These guys keep doing it. So, happy to be along for the ride.”

Pitching, in many ways, carried the Roadrunners and helped them improve on their program record with 43 victories this season. In winning for the 14th time in their last 15 games, the Roadrunners limited the Owls to just two hits.

Starter Braylon Owens yielded both hits and gave up two runs, one of them earned, in 5 and 1/3 innings. The senior from Elgin pitched out of trouble a few times and struck out 11. Orloski worked the final 3 and 1/3 innings scoreless on no hits. The 6-foot-4 sophomore from Idaho, a one-time draft pick out of high school by the Boston Red Sox, struck out three and walked one.

On the offensive side, Taussig and Lytle both went three for four at the plate. Lytle, a senior from Pearland, staked UTSA to a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a solo home run.

The Owls played small ball and scored one run in the fifth and one in the sixth off Owens to take the lead.

In the fifth, a leadoff walk led to trouble for Owens and UTSA. As Tobias Motley bunted in front of the mound, Owens fielded it and threw wildly into center field. It put runners at first and third with nobody out. At that point, the Owls bunted again to tie the score. Colin Robson laid down a sacrifice to score Cole Green from third base, making it a 1-1 ball game.

The opportunistic Owls scored again in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. With one out, Hiram Bocachica walked and stole second base. One out later, Paul Smith singled up the middle to score Bocachica. Hickson finished with 7 and 1/3 innings and seven strikeouts. He gave up four runs on seven hits.

Records

Rice 17-39
UTSA 43-11

Tuesday’s results

Tulane 6, Florida Atlantic 3
UTSA 4, Rice 2
Charlotte 7, Wichita State 1
East Carolina 9, South Florida 4

Wednesday’s games

Rice vs. Florida Atlantic, noon, elimination
Wichita State vs. South Florida, 47 minutes after conclusion of first game, elimination

Thursday’s games

Tulane vs. UTSA, noon, winners bracket
East Carolina vs. Charlotte, 47 minutes after conclusion of first game, winners bracket

Notable

UTSA swept four games from the Owls in the past six days. The Roadrunners won Thursday, Friday and Saturday in San Antonio and again on Tuesday in Clearwater.

Roadrunners infielder Norris McClure was knocked out of the series finale in San Antonio with a leg bruise, but he bounced back and picked up two hits and an RBI as the designated hitter in his first Division I tournament game. With the two hits, McClure extended his batting streak to 20 games.

Speculation continues to swirl around the Roadrunners and whether their win-loss record and their RPI, at No. 22 nationally coming into Tuesday, will yield an NCAA tournament bid next week.

During the Rice game, television commentators were projecting that UTSA would be in the 64-team field when it is announced next Monday.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark, whose team has won road games at Texas and Texas A&M, said on the postgame zoom that he didn’t know whether his team would make it and, with the rest of the AAC event to play, he said he doesn’t care about the speculation.

“Obviously I want to play in the regional but I don’t control that,” Hallmark said. “I’m focused on the team and the opponent. I don’t mean that in a negative way at all. I just know these questions are coming. (Three) years ago when we were making a run, when we got that RPI pretty solid, these same questions were coming and they’re hard to answer.

“I’ve seen the basketball coaches. They give the spiels and politic. Not me. Like, we’re going to play ball, and I’m happy to be a part of this group. I don’t know the answer, and I’m not going to worry about it, honestly. I’m going to prepare for Tulane and celebrate a little bit with the guys.”

UTSA defeated Tulane two out of three in a series earlier this season in San Antonio.

Coached by Jay Uhlman, the Green Wave have advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons by winning the AAC postseason crown. In 2023, they entered as a No. 7 seed and won four out of five to win the championship. Playing as a No. 3 seed in last spring, they went 4-0, downing Wichita State 11-10 in the title game. Tulane improved its record to 31-24 with the victory over Florida Atlantic.