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.”