Postseason honors: UTSA lands four on AAC first team

Four baseball players from the UTSA Roadrunners have been named all-conference first team in the American Athletic Conference, according to a news release.

The four included centerfielder Mason Lytle, who was also named as the AAC’s Newcomer Position Player of the Year. The others were pitcher Ulises Quiroga, shortstop Matt King and designated hitter Alexander Olivo.

Landing on the second team were a pair of UTSA players in relief pitching ace Ruger Riojas and leftfielder Caleb Hill. All-Freshman honors went to UTSA’s Robert Orloski and second baseman Diego Diaz.

The postseason honors were announced in a release on Monday afternoon. UTSA is set to play the Charlotte 49ers Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Clearwater, Fla., on opening day of the six-day American Baseball Championship, a tournament consisting of the top eight teams in the AAC.

AAC Baseball Honors

Player of the Year – Carter Cunningham, Sr., 1B, East Carolina

Pitcher of the Year – Trey Yesavage, Jr., East Carolina*

Newcomer Position Player of the Year – Mason Lytle, Jr., OF, UTSA

Newcomer Pitcher of the Year – Tommy LaPour, Fr., Wichita State

Defensive Player of the Year – Ryley Johnson, Jr., OF, East Carolina

Coach of the Year – Cliff Godwin, East Carolina

First-team all conference

P – Blayze Berry, Sr., UAB*
P – Trey Yesavage, Jr., East Carolina*
P – Ulises Quiroga, Sr., UTSA
P – Caden Favors, Sr., Wichita State
RP – Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, Jr., East Carolina
C – Justin Wilcoxen, Sr., East Carolina
1B – Carter Cunningham, Sr., East Carolina*
2B – Bobby Boser, Jr., South Florida
SS – Matt King, Jr., UTSA
3B – Gavin Schulz, Jr., Tulane
OF – Jacob Jenkins-Cowart, Jr., East Carolina
OF – Ryley Johnson, Jr., East Carolina
OF – Mason Lytle, Jr., UTSA
DH – Alexander Olivo, Sr., UTSA
UTL – Ben Rozenblum, R-Sr., South Florida

All-Conference Second Team

P – Colin Daniel, So., UAB
P – Danny Beal, Sr., East Carolina
P – C.J. Williams, Sr., Florida Atlantic
P – Tommy LaPour, Fr., Wichita State
RP – Ruger Riojas, So., UTSA
C – Colin Tuft, Jr., Tulane
1B – Brady Marget, Jr., Tulane
2B – Connor Rasmussen, So., Tulane
SS – Gavin Lewis Jr, Jr., UAB
3B – Camden Johnson, Fr., Wichita State
OF – Caleb Hill, Sr., UTSA
OF – Derek Williams, Jr., Wichita State
OF – Logan Braunschweig, Jr., UAB
DH – Ryan McCrystal, Jr., East Carolina
UTL – Michael Lombardi, So., Tulane

All-Freshman Team – Bristol Carter, OF, East Carolina; Ethan Norby, P, East Carolina*; Trey Beard, P, Florida Atlantic; Emilio Gonzalez, INF, Florida Atlantic; Diego Diaz, 2B, UTSA;
Robert Orloski, P, UTSA; Tyler Dobbs, P, Wichita State; Lane Haworth, OF, Wichita State; Camden Johnson, INF, Wichita State; Tommy LaPour, P, Wichita State*

* – Denotes unanimous selection

UTSA run-rules FAU 14-1 to stay one off pace in AAC title chase

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners scored five runs in the top of the first inning Thursday and then cruised behind a two home-run performance from Alexander Olivo to a 14-1 victory over the Florida Atlantic Owls.

Playing in Boca Raton, the Roadrunners won after seven innings on the run rule in the first of a three-game series in the American Athletic Conference.

Second-place UTSA cranked out 14 hits to stay in the chase for the regular-season title in the AAC. First-place East Carolina, playing at home, defeated the Rice Owls 8-2 to remain one game ahead of the Roadrunners with two to play.

Ulises Quiroga (8-1) pitched 5 and 2/3 innings and allowed one run to earn the victory. Ryan Ward went 1 and 1/3 to finish off FAU. C.J. Williams (5-4) took the loss for the Owls.

UTSA has won three straight games and four of its last five. The Roadrunners’ last two wins have come on the run rule. UTSA beat Incarnate Word 13-3 in eight innings Tuesday night in San Antonio.

Individually for the Roadrunners, Olivo enjoyed a big day at FAU, reaching base four times and scoring four runs. He highlighted a two-for-three batting performance with solo home runs in the second and third innings. The homers were his fourth and fifth of the season.

Olivo is five for eight with five RBI in his last two games combined.

Another UTSA player swinging a hot bat is freshman Diego Diaz, who had three hits and three RBI against the Owls, giving him eight hits and five RBI over his last three performances.

Zane Spinn led off the fifth inning with a homer, his second in four games, as the Roadrunners erupted for six runs. Diaz and Mark Henning capped the outburst with consecutive two-run singles.

Records

UTSA 31-21, 16-9
Florida Atlantic 25-26, 11-14

Coming up

AAC series: UTSA at Florida Atlantic
Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Saturday at noon

AAC tournament: At Clearwater, Fla.
May 21-26

Baseball: UTSA smashes four homers in 21-4 victory over Tarleton

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Trailing by two runs early, the UTSA Roadrunners sent 13 batters to the plate in a seven-run second inning Wednesday night, rolling to an easy 21-4 victory over the Tarleton State Texans.

All told, UTSA stroked 19 hits and four home runs in the midweek home game at Roadrunner Field, avenging a 14-10 loss to the Texans in Stephenville on Feb. 20.

Caleb Hill, Alexander Olivo, James Taussig and Tye Odom all homered for the Roadrunners, who have scored 58 runs in five games since Feb. 27, a nine-day run in which they have compiled a 4-1 record.

Freshman Diego Diaz produced four hits, while Odom and Matt King had three apiece.

Righthander Fischer Kingsbery (1-1) pitched to four batters in relief and struck out all of them for the Roadrunners, who blanked the Texans in six straight innings from the third through the ninth.

Records

Tarleton State 9-5
UTSA 7-6

Coming up

UTSA at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Friday, 7 p.m.

Notable

James Taussig, a 6-foot-5, left-side hitter, has homered in three consecutive games. The Houston native has eight RBIs in his last four. Olivo and Hill had two hits apiece against Tarleton and raised their batting averages to .438 and .419, respectively. Kingsbery. a right-handed pitcher, has yielded no runs on two hits in five innings over his last three appearances. In that span, he has struck out nine and walked none.