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Reaching for new heights: UTSA plays Kansas State in the NCAA tournament

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By Jerry Briggs
Staff writer

AUSTIN – The UTSA Roadrunners were peppered once again Thursday with questions about their breakthrough season.

In response, two of the leaders on the team talked about gratitude in describing how it felt to become only the fourth team in program history to reach the NCAA baseball tournament.

Centerfielder Mason Lytle said it feels good to get it done for teammates like pitcher Braylon Owens, who flanked him during media interviews in advance of the Austin Regional.

Looking for the program’s first NCAA tournament victory, Lytle and Owens and the second-seeded Roadrunners open against the No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

“We’re extremely grateful to be here,” Lytle told the assembled media Thursday morning. “We’re grateful to finally be the team to crack through.”

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark, in response to another question, tried to explain how the team eclipsed the 40-win mark with this group, in particular.

He’s had good teams before. So, why this one? How did this team get to 44?

Hallmark started to show some emotion but then caught himself, knowing that maybe it’s time to start focusing on how to win playoff games.

“My thoughts are similar to Mason’s probably,” the coach said. “I’m grateful to be part of it. I’m proud of ‘em.”

Then he added: “I think, uh, it’s time to turn the page. It’s a new season.”

The new season starts at 1 p.m. Friday when the Texas Longhorns take the field against the Houston Christian Huskies. It continues in the nightcap as the Roadrunners play at 6 against the power-hitting Wildcats from the Big 12.

“These people here with us this weekend, these people are really good,” Hallmark said. “It’s going to take the very best of us to win this thing.”

To beat the Wildcats, the Roadrunners will need to pitch well. Starter Zach Royse will need to pitch precisely, because Kansas State hit 92 home runs this year, which ranks 24th in the nation.

Royse yielded three home runs against Tulane in his most recent start. Hallmark, in reviewing the Wildcats’skills in film sessions, said their players swing “off their back leg.”

“I like the way they swing,” he said. “I won’t like the way they swing Friday, because they take a dangerous passes. (But) I think they’re trained well.”

Offensively, UTSA will need to play its game of taking free passes on walks and hit by pitches, and then moving those runners along with clutch hitting.

The Roadrunners will need to be ready for several Wildcats pitchers who throw in the mid-90s, Hallmark said.

“It’s not a surprise,” he said. “They’re a Power 4 team. It’s what you typically see from the Power 4 … The talent’s there. They’re well-coached.”

K-State coach Pete Hughes has won 851 games in his career.

His career began in 1997-98 in San Antonio at Division III 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, now in his seventh year at K-State, said he admires the way Hallmark works.

“Coach Hallmark is one of the most underrated coaches in the country,” he said. “He’s won wherever they’ve given him the chance to lead. I’ll enjoy watching him coach and coach against him.

“It’ll be my first time coaching against coach Hallmark and a team that’s won 44 games. (They’re) very impressive offensively with a veteran pitching staff.”

Kansas State’s personnel has changed dramatically from last year, when the Wildcats won the Fayetteville Regional.

But K-State reliever JJ Stack, one of the returning players, said some things have not changed.

“From last year to this year, we just kind of stuck with the same philosophy,” he said. “Kept a chip on our shoulder. We try to play with a lot of energy. We like to have fun when we play. So, taking that from last year and putting it on this team is definitely the thing we’re trying to do.”

NCAA Austin Regional

Friday’s games
At UFCU Disch-Falk Field

Fourth-seeded Houston Christian Huskies vs. No. 1 Texas Longhorns, 1 p.m.
No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats vs. second-seeded UTSA Roadrunners, 6 p.m.

Records

Texas (42-12)
UTSA (44-13)
Kansas State (31-24)
Houston Christian (32-23)

Austin Regional is expected to be played as scheduled after storm damage at UFCU Disch-Falk Field

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

AUSTIN — The weather turned wild on Wednesday night at the University of Texas. A storm that packed wind estimated at 70 mph, according to a local media outlet, knocked down a portion of the centerfield fence at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

At first glance, it looked like a situation that could affect this weekend’s NCAA Austin Regional baseball tournament. Officials, however, cautioned fans not to worry.

“Still scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Friday,” a University of Texas school spokesman said, alluding to the time for the first pitch to be thrown in a game pitting the Texas Longhorns and the Houston Christian University Huskies.

A second game will follow at 6 p.m. between the Kansas State Wildcats and the UTSA Roadrunners.

Austin Regional: Schlossnagle’s first team at Texas has high hopes for a run to Omaha

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

In the last of our four installments on teams in the Austin Regional, we’ll examine the Texas Longhorns’ success this season and how they have lived up to the hype after the hiring of Coach Jim Schlossnagle last summer.

The Texas Longhorns

Record: 42-12

Record in conference: 22-8, first in the Southeastern Conference

Seed in the Austin Regional: First (second nationally behind Vanderbilt)

Opener: Texas hosts Houston Christian on Friday at 1 p.m.

NCAA history, highlights: The Longhorns have won six national titles and have made a record 38 College World Series appearances. This is their 62nd trip to the NCAA tournament.

Journey to the Austin Regional: Coach Jim Schlossnagle’s first season in Austin has been a memorable one, starting with his controversial exit last summer at Texas A&M and his hiring at intrastate rival Texas. Only days after leading the Aggies to the Men’s College World Series title game, he accepted a job to coach the Longhorns. This spring, the Longhorns sizzled with 17 straight wins at one point, a streak broken by a loss at home to UTSA. Then they picked up steam when they entered the SEC schedule, winning their first seven series and reaching No. 1 in the polls. Though they lost some sizzle late by dropping three straight games at Arkansas and two of three at home to Florida, they secured the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA field based on their SEC regular-season title. With their RPI at No. 4, the Longhorns are hosting a regional for the first time since 2022.

The coach: Schlossnagle has won 987 games in stops at UNLV, TCU, Texas A&M and Texas. He’s coached in 19 NCAA regionals (this will be his 20th), nine super regionals and seven Men’s College World Series. He’s led his teams to six MCWS appearances in the last 10 years.

Top players: Pitcher Dylan Volantis and catcher Rylan Galvan were both named first-team, all Southeastern Conference. Volantis was the SEC Freshman of the Year. Galvan, first baseman Kimble Schuessler, second baseman Ethan Mendoza and outfielder Will Gasparino all were named to the SEC All Defensive Team.

More on Volantis: The 6-foot-6, 212-pound Volantis became just the fourth Longhorn to receive conference freshman of the year honors, joining Chance Ruffin (2008), Erich Weiss (2011) and Parker French (2012). For the season, he finished 4-0 with a 1.66 ERA and 12 saves.

Pride of South Texas: Rylan Galvan, a junior from Sinton, hit .299 with 14 home runs and 46 RBI this season. Galvan played at Sinton under coach Adrian Alaniz, who pitched for the Longhorns under coach Augie Garrido.

Belyeu’s return: Max Belyeu, the Big 12 Player of the Year last season, returned to the Longhorns lineup in the SEC tournament quarterfinals against Tennessee. He went 0 for 5 in his return after getting sidelined with a fractured a thumb on March 28 at Missouri.

San Antonio connections: Ruger Riojas, in his first year at Texas, pitched the past two seasons at UTSA. UT shortstop Jalin Flores played in high school at Brandeis in the Northside Independent School District. UT assistant coach Michael Cantu played two games for the San Antonio Missions in 2022.

NCAA Austin Regional: Second-seeded UTSA hopes to build on a dream season

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Here’s part three of our look at teams in the NCAA Austin Regional. The UTSA Roadrunners ran away with the regular-season title in the American Athletic Conference and earned their first at-large bid to the tournament. They’ll be seeded second this weekend.

UTSA Roadrunners

Record: 44-13

Record in conference: 23-4, first in the American.

Seed in the Austin Regional: Second

Opener: The Roadrunners will play the No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats Friday at 6 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

NCAA baseball history, highlights: UTSA has enjoyed only sporadic success in 34 seasons of Division I baseball, with three previous trips to NCAA tournaments — in 1994, 2005 and 2013. The first two NCAA sojourns came in the Southland Conference, followed by one in the Western Athletic Conference. The Roadrunners went 0-2 in each of the three tournaments.

Journey to the Austin Regional: It’s been long time coming for the Roadrunners. They have fielded solid teams in each of the past three seasons, only to come up short each time. They won 38, 38 and 32 games from 2022-24, respectively. In ‘22, it was particularly painful after they opened the Conference USA tournament with three wins in Hattiesburg, Miss., including back-to-back victories over nationally-ranked host Southern Mississippi. But after a one-run loss to Louisiana Tech in the finals, their name was not called on NCAA selection day. This season, the Roadrunners left no doubt, ripping off a school-record 44 wins, including non-conference victories over Texas and Texas A&M. Not to mention a 23-4 run to the AAC regular-season title. Even with a 2-2 trip to the conference tournament, it didn’t matter, as UTSA earned its first at-large bid and its highest regional seed ever.

The coach: Victories just keep piling up for Pat Hallmark. In eight seasons, including two at Incarnate Word and the past six at UTSA, he has amassed a 250-157 record. Take away the one year cut short by the pandemic (2020) and he’s averaging 35.7 wins a season.

Top players: UTSA centerfielder Mason Lytle entered the 2025 season under the microscope as the preseason player of the year in the AAC. Lytle more than lived up to billing as he was named following the regular season as both player of the year, defensive player of the year and first-team all conference. Other Roadrunners on the first team included pitcher Robert Orloski, catcher Andrew Stucky, shortstop Ty Hodge and outfielder James Taussig.

Quality depth: The Roadrunners’ quality did not stop there. Named to the AAC second team were leftfielder Drew Detlefsen and second baseman Jordan Ballin. Detlefsen also was named Co-Newcomer Position Player of the Year along with UAB’s Todd Clay.

Salty freshmen: Three first-year Roadrunners made the AAC all freshman team, including Ballin, first baseman Caden Miller and utility infielder Nathan Hodge, the younger brother of Ty Hodge.

Next up: The top-seeded Texas Longhorns.

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.