By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
UTSA baseball will host the Dallas Baptist Patriots in a three-game series starting Friday afternoon at Roadrunner Field. First pitch between the undefeated mid-major powers is set for 4 p.m.
Sophomore outfielder Christian Hallmark is batting .625 and has been on base nine times in the team’s first four games. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Both the Roadrunners and the Patriots made NCAA tournament appearances last season and enter the second weekend of the new campaign with potent offenses and 4-0 records.
It’s the fifth straight home game for the Roadrunners, who swept three games from South Dakota State before winning a mid-week game Tuesday against the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Led by Caden Miller, Josh Arquette and Christian Hallmark, UTSA has hit .399 as a team while scoring 53 runs as it attempts to tie the school record for consecutive victories to start a season.
The Patriots, meanwhile, have scored 45 runs while hitting .353 as a team in sweeping three from Binghamton and one from Abilene Christian.
Dallas Baptist boasts five players batting .400 or better, led by Adam Berghult, Jake Bennett and Ryan Martin, in addition to Dylan Cupp and Cooper Neville.
Bennett has hit four home runs, including two in a game against Binghamton and two against Abilene Christian.
Records
Dallas Baptist 4-0
UTSA 4-0
Coming up
Dallas Baptist at UTSA, Friday, 4 p.m.
Dallas Baptist at UTSA, Saturday, 2 p.m.
Dallas Baptist at UTSA, Sunday, 1 p.m.
UTSA at Texas State, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
Notable
Injuries have hit two of UTSA’s best players thus far, as the team has lost both infielder Nathan Hodge and pitcher Robert Orloski.
Both players contributed heavily in last year’s 47-15 season, which included titles in both the American Conference regular season and the NCAA Austin Regional.
UTSA eventually reached the Los Angeles Super Regional — its first trip to the Super Regional round — where it was eliminated by UCLA.
Dallas Baptist won two of three from UTSA last season in Dallas.
The Patriots went on to win the Conference USA regular-season championship and finished 41-18 after getting eliminated at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. It was DBU’s third straight 40-win season and its 11th straight NCAA trip.
Dallas Baptist baseball is embarking on its last season in Conference USA before moving into the re-formed Pac 12 in 2027.
The Pac 12 will include Dallas Baptist, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State and Washington State as the seven baseball-playing members.