Tag Archives: college baseball

UTSA extends baseball coach Pat Hallmark’s contract through the 2029 season

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UTSA baseball will move forward with Head Coach Pat Hallmark recently receiving an extension on his contract through the 2029 season.

The extension, which runs through May 31, 2029, will pay Hallmark a base salary of:

*$350,000 for the 2025-26 year
*$375,000 in ’26-27
*$400,000 in ’27-28
*And, finally, $425,000 in ’28-29.

UTSA announced the agreement on June 17 after the program’s best season, in which Hallmark led the Roadrunners to the Super Regional round of the NCAA playoffs.

Hallmark, the 2025 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, led the Roadrunners to their first NCAA Regional Championship and first Super Regional appearance.

UTSA established a program-best 47 wins and a program-low 15 losses. Hallmark also directed the team to its third-ever conference regular-season championship with a 23-4 mark in The American.

The 2025 Roadrunners re-wrote the program records in:

*Runs scored (530)
*RBI (488)
*On-base percentage (.423)
*Fewest errors (47)
*Fielding percentage (.978)
*At-bats (2,098)
*And, hit by pitches (125).

Hallmark was named UTSA’s head coach on June 16, 2019. He has led the team to a record of 187-111, including four consecutive 30-plus win seasons. The streak ties a UTSA school record.

His career record is 253-159, which includes two season at the University of the Incarnate Word.

Taking a look at UTSA baseball’s season in photos

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Good afternoon, all. As we wait for UTSA baseball’s game at the NCAA Austin Regional, I wanted to share some of Joe Alexander’s file photos from the season. Enjoy.

Nathan Hodge. UTSA beat Rice 11-4 in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field on Friday, May 15, 2025. - photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA’s Nathan Hodge, shown here in a game played at home against Rice University, emerged as one of the standouts Saturday night in a 9-7 victory over the Texas Longhorns. Figuring prominently in the Roadrunners’ rally from a five-run deficit, he had two hits and three RBI. Hodge is a freshman from College Station. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Ty Hodge. UTSA beat Rice 11-4 in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field on Friday, May 15, 2025. - photo by Joe Alexander

Ty Hodge, Nathan’s older, has been an infield fixture at shortstop for the Roadrunners. Ty Hodge is a redshirt junior from College Station. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Mason Lytle. UTSA beat South Florida 5-2 in American Athletic Conference baseball on Friday, May 10, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Mason Lytle, shown here making a play at home against South Florida last season, returned for his senior year and earned American Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors. Lytle is a senior from Houston. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Kendall Dove is 3-0 with a 5.58 earned run average after earning the win in Saturday night’s game against the Texas Longhorns. He’s shown here in a Feb. 26 home game against Oakland (Mich.). Dove is a sophomore from New Caney. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Andrew Stucky. UTSA rallied from an early 5-1 deficit to beat Florida Atlantic 10-7 in American Athletic Conference baseball at Roadrunner Field on Friday, March 28, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA catcher Andrew Stucky is hitting .331 with a 1.000 OPS. Stucky is a senior from Tucson, Ariz. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Norris McClure slides safely into home to tie the game 7-7 on Drew Detlefsen's three-run double in the fifth inning. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Norris McClure has sparked the Roadrunners with his .350 bating average and his all-out play. He’s shown here sliding head first into home against Rice on May 15. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Baseball: UTSA clinches AAC series victory over Florida Atlantic

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Ty Hodge.

Ty Hodge makes a play at shortstop Saturday as UTSA defeats the FAU Owls 7-3 at Roadrunner Field, beating the visitors twice in two days and improving to 22-7 on the season. UTSA is 4-1 in the American Athletic Conference. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Drew Detlefsen belted two home runs and carried UTSA past the FAU Owls 7-3 on Saturday afternoon at Roadrunner Field, clinching a series victory over one of the top-rated teams in the American Athletic Conference.

Both teams entered the series ranked among the AAC’s best in the NCAA Division I baseball RPI. UTSA was No. 71 nationally and FAU was No. 78, so the Roadrunners have likely earned some respect after coming from behind twice in two days to win.

On Friday, they fell behind 5-1 but rallied to claim a 10-7 victory. On Saturday, FAU jumped out to a 3-0 lead but could not hold off UTSA. Detlefsen and Caden Miller led the charge. Detlefsen hit a solo homer in the fourth and a three-run shot in the seventh.

Miller had sacrifice flies in the fifth and the seventh.

Starting pitcher Braylon Owens worked four innings and gave up three runs, giving way to relievers Christian Okerholm, Connor Kelley and Rob Orloski, who combined to shut out the explosive Owls the rest of the way.

Okerholm started the fifth inning and yielded three hits in 2 and 2/3. Kelley (1-0) earned his first victory of the season, striking out two and keeping FAU hitless for 1 and 1/3. Orloski pitched a clean ninth with one strikeout.

Righthander Tyler Murphy (2-2) took the loss, though he pitched well in stretches, going six innings, giving up four runs and eight hits.

Marshall Lypsey and Jake Duer, two of the top hitters in the AAC, had two hits each for the Owls. John Schroeder clubbed a two-run homer off Owens in the third inning to give FAU a 3-0 lead.

Records

FAU 19-8, 2-3
UTSA 22-7, 4-1

Coming up

FAU at UTSA, Sunday at noon
UTSA at TCU, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Notable

Detlefsen, a junior college transfer from Dodge City (Kan.) Community College, is batting .355 for the season. He leads the Roadrunners with eight home runs and 48 RBI in 29 games. He’s been hot this week with seven hits in 14 at bats, with three doubles and two homers. In a game against Texas State Tuesday, he exploded for four hits and seven RBI. He had four RBI on Saturday against FAU.

Competitive juices will flow as UTSA hosts Texas State in baseball on Tuesday night

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

With the Texas State Bobcats set to travel to San Antonio for a meeting with the UTSA Roadrunners in baseball on Tuesday night, I knew I needed to conduct an archive search of news coverage from the last time the two old rivals played.

In the archives of The JB Replay, I found a video image that pretty much tells the story of how passionate this series has become.

It was a video (see the image above) that I shot at the end of UTSA’s 11-9 victory over Texas State at Roadrunner Field last April.

The clip shows UTSA pitcher Fischer Kingsbery, firing what appears to be a high fastball and fanning Texas State slugger August Ramirez for the last out.

As Ramirez swings and misses, the UTSA fans erupt in cheers. Kingsbery then does a spin move on the mound and pumps his fist. Suddenly, he rips the glove off his left hand and fires it at the feet of Roadrunners players streaming out of the dugout to congratulate him.

Asked immediately after the game about the show of emotion, UTSA pitcher Braylon Owens was quoted as saying, “Battle of I-35. I mean, they were chirping us. Like, their fans, they chirped us pretty good when we played at their place. We were just excited to beat ’em here.”

Almost a year has passed since that moment unfolded.

Kingsbery and Ramirez have since moved on in their baseball careers, so they won’t be on the field Tuesday night. Owens is still pitching for the Roadrunners and is pitching extremely well, but since he worked 10 innings last week, he probably won’t get into the game this time.

All that aside, it’s almost certain that fans from both schools will fill the grandstands and a highly-competitive game will break out in the 104th incarnation of the series. Texas State leads it 63-40, but the teams have split the last six meetings.

Some of those games, as the record shows, have been crazy. In 2022, for instance, the Bobcats won 14-12 in San Marcos. Seven days later, the Roadrunners flipped the script and rolled, 14-8, in San Antonio.

Last season, home runs were flying out of the park in all directions, and the Bobcats held on to win 14-13 in San Marcos, which likely explains all the emotion of the Roadrunners’ 11-9 win in the rematch.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark suggested on his Monday morning zoom conference that the high scores and wild swings in momentum in recent games can be attributed to the timing of the games between programs that play in different conferences.

With Texas State in the Sun Belt and UTSA having recently moved from Conference USA to the American, the games between the two programs separated by about 50 miles of I-35 freeway have fallen during the middle of the week.

“You’re playing a Tuesday mid-week game (and) both of us are coming off of conference weekends,” Hallmark said. “(With) three games on the weekend, you’re using a lot of front-line pitching … In other words, you’re not going to save anybody for a Tuesday game when you’re in conference.”

Consequently, Texas State and UTSA hitters in recent times might have been a little more productive in the non-conference rivalry game after seeing higher quality stuff on the weekends.

“That might be what it is,” Hallmark said. “Whether you hit a little more, or you see some more base on balls … the free pass sometimes equates into runs. Hopefully, tomorrow, we can counter some of that and at least on our end, put up some zeroes.”

Recent games at Bobcat Ballpark or at Roadrunner Field have been emotional.

It’s only natural as players often times know each other from high school competition. They know each other from summer ball. The fans from both schools show up to sit in the grandstands where school pride and good-natured smack talk, as Owens suggested last April, tends to spice the atmosphere.

Such was the case last April when Texas State fans appeared to make up at least a quarter of the more than 1,000 in attendance jammed the modest Roadrunner Field. Hallmark, from his perspective, said he tries not to let it affect him as he manages the game.

“I don’t pay too much attention to it,” he said. “I got other stuff that I need to focus on. So, whether we’re at Disch-Falk Field (in Austin) or at our own ball park, I’m pretty absorbed and try to stay absorbed in the moment, and what I need to do to help us win.”

Even if coaches in both dugouts can block out all the noise, though, they likely can’t help get a little worked up when a four- or five-run lead dissolves in a matter of minutes and the crowd noise spikes.

This morning, I suggested on the zoom conference with coach Hallmark that these games with the Bobcats are a thrill for the fans. But for the coaches, they must get a little hairy as they attempt to make decisions during big rallies one way or the other.

“You sound like my dad,” Hallmark said, agreeing with the premise. “At the end of a game, it’s 14-12. He’s all jazzed up, and I’m tired. But, yeah, I think the fans like the run production.”

Records

Texas State 11-12
UTSA 19-7

Coming up

Texas State at UTSA, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

A UTSA freshman makes the most of his last at bat in Arlington

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners will close out a stretch of four straight road games to start the season today in Waco against the Baylor Bears.

They’re expected to face freshman lefthander Carson Bailey, who throws heat with velocity in the mid-90s, so the Roadrunners will need to be on top of their game. First pitch is at 3 p.m..

Reporters had a chance to chat on Monday’s media zoom call with Roadrunners coach Pat Hallmark, whose team lost its first two at UT Arlington last weekend before rebounding to win 6-3 on Sunday afternoon. A highlight of the Roadrunners’ first victory of the season came in the top of the eighth inning.

Down 3-2, they scored four runs to take the lead, with the big blow coming off the bat of a freshman playing in only his third college game.

Who is this freshman? Caden Miller is his name. A small-town guy, he attended high school in East Texas in the town of Madisonville, with a population of a little more than 13,000. Madisonville High School, about 90 miles north of Houston, has about 650 students total in grades 9-12.

Competing at the Class 4A level, the 6-foot-2 Miller honed his skills, showing enough ability with the bat to play his way into some high-level summer programs.

Hallmark said Miller’s summer ball team was one of the best in the state. “He’s facing some of the best pitching, playing in the top tournaments nationally,” the coach said, “so he’s seen good pitching.”

Miller’s arrival at UTSA in the fall was an unexpected pleasant surprise for the UTSA coaches.

“He’s a terrific player and a good get for us,” Hallmark said. “He was actually going to (Houston Christian University), I think, with the relationship (he had) with Lance Berkman. When Lance resigned (as coach) last summer, Caden opened his recruiting back up, and we were able to get him over here.

“So he was a fairly big recruit, certainly a big recruit for us. Happy to have him. He has some hitting talent. He has more raw hitting talent than most of the recruits we get.”

Miller, who sets up with an open stance from the left side, suffered through a bit of a rocky start at the plate in his first two games for the Roadrunners.

Batting leadoff, he went hitless in his first seven appearances and struck out three times combined in 5-0 and 7-4 losses on Friday and Saturday.

“He was a little antsy,” Hallmark said. “You probably saw (it), he was hitting in the leadoff spot Friday and Saturday (and) he was just antsy, a little jumpy up there, and he wasn’t getting real good looks at pitches.

“He was chasing more pitches than he ever chases. That’s one thing he does really well, which is why I hit him in the leadoff spot. He controls the strike zone terrifically, especially for a freshman. But, anyway, he settled down Sunday.”

Batting seventh in the series finale against the Mavericks, he walked in his first appearance in the second inning and then lined a grounder to first, which was turned into a double play, in the fourth. When Miller returned to the dugout, Hallmark told his young charge that his swing looked good.

He told him to stay with it. In the sixth inning, his approach paid dividends, and he singled through the right side. Coming up again in the eighth, UTSA had tied the game 3-3 on a Tye Odom RBI single, and Andrew Stucky had just flied out deep into the outfield, pushing Roadrunners on the bases to second and third.

In a lefty on lefty confrontation, Miller barreled a Kyle Winkler pitch high and deep to center. Ultimately, it caromed off the batters’ eye for a three-run homer. A jolt of energy surged through a visitors dugout that had not had much luck to that point.

“I thought he had a good at-bat on the groundout to first,” Hallmark said. “Kind of ironic, I told him after that at bat, just stay where you’re at. You’re swinging the bat good. The three-run homer came later.”

Just in time to save the Roadrunners’ opening weekend.

Coming up

UTSA at Baylor, today, 3 p.m.
Long Island at UTSA, Friday, 6 p.m.
Long Island at UTSA, doubleheader, noon
Long Island at UTSA, Sunday, 11 a.m.

Records

UTSA 1-2
Baylor 3-0

Friday-night expectations? UTSA’s Orloski embraces the challenge

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Starting pitcher Robert Orloski. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Nineteen-year-old freshman Rob Orloski is expected to get the ball to pitch tonight for the UTSA Roadrunners. UTSA opens a three-game series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Chapman Field. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Hit hard in his first two starts as a collegian, UTSA freshman pitcher Rob Orloski showed signs last week that he can handle the Friday-night expectations.

Whether he starts or enters in long relief tonight at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the 19-year-old righthander hopes to build on last Friday’s performance, when he carried the load in a 12-0 victory at home over Grand Canyon University.

Fischer Kingsbery, Orloski and Cooper Hrbacek combined to limit the explosive Lopes to four hits in the first shutout by Roadrunners pitching since 2022.

Orloski, the player of the year in Idaho in 2022, worked six innings from the third through the eighth, allowing only three hits.

Facing a good offensive ball club, the 6-foot-4 righthander struck out seven and walked two and allowed a baserunner to reach third only once.

Afterward, his teammates gave him the game ball in the locker room.

“That was awesome,” Orloski said. “I mean, I got to thank God and the coaches for giving me the opportunity to keep pitching on Friday. To give me the opportunity to go out and prove myself. It’s a surreal moment.

“It’s something that you dream of, just, getting the opportunity to pitch on Friday as a freshman and getting the win and helping the team win.”

Securing his first victory in the combined shutout was meaningful for him.

“Fish started off the game great (with) two clean innings,” Orloski said. “Then, me going in there and having some help from the defense. And then Cooper being able to shut it out, it was a great game for the team.”

Orloski’s transition from high school to college has been bumpy at times.

Named to start in UTSA’s season opener, he yielded six runs and was tagged with the loss in a 10-9 setback to UT-Arlington. In his second start, the Roadrunners beat the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 7-6 at the Sugar Land Classic, but Orloski once again gave up six runs on six hits.

Combined, Arlington and SFA unloaded on him for five home runs.

At the same time, UTSA coaches weren’t really sweating it because while his pitch location needed improvement, his raw talent was obvious. Through three starts, Orloski has shown that he likes to challenge hitters, utilizing a fastball that seems to have late explosion.

He has struck out 20 in 15 innings of work.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark’s assessment of Orloski in the days leading into the season opener seem to be holding up. “Eventually,” Hallmark said at the time, “Rob’s going to be a very good college pitcher, so we might as well start finding out when right now.”

For Orloski, a baseball journey that started with major league games he would watch on television in his Idaho home has been quite the experience, already.

In many ways, it’s been a quintessential American experience, starting with a dream and then with a question to his father.

“Dad, do you think I could pitch?” he would say, in not so many words.

Robert Orloski, the pitcher’s father, has been supporting his son in his diamond ball field pursuits ever since.

“He’s been my coach from 8- to 12U,” Orloski said Tuesday afternoon, outside the dugout at Roadrunner Field “He even helped (me) in high school. So he’s always been there coaching.

“Just, step by step. Teaching me to just be strong on the mound. Always attack. Just have that mentality on the field.”

Orloski’s demeanor on the mound? A lot of it comes from years of conversations with his father at the kitchen table, in the car, or on the lake fishing for bass.

“He’s just been able to teach me the basics,” Orloski said. “I’ve had good coaches all the way (up), teaching me more of the advanced stuff. But he’s really been the one to teach me my mentality on the field.”

In 2022, Orloski reached a pivotal moment in his career. He was named player of the year as a junior at Middlegton High School in his home state and then started fielding inquiries from college coaches.

“I had a few other options up in the Northwest, in the Oregon area (and) the Washington area,” he said. “Main reason I came down here was because of the coach. Coach Hallmark, coach (Zach) Butler and (Ryan) Aguayo. I had family down here. So it was an easy move. An easy decision for me, I think.”

After completing his high school career in 2023, Orloski came to another crossroads. The Boston Red Sox drafted him in the 20th round in July.

“It was a pretty awesome call,” Orloski said. “I mean, I was super ecstatic about it. (It’s) still a surreal moment for me knowing that I got drafted by the Red Sox. I couldn’t be happier to be here right now, but it’s still awesome.”

Orloski acknowledged that he gave serious thought to the idea of going straight from high school baseball into the pros.

“Tough decision,” he said. “It was a tough road. It was stressful at times. But when it all came down to it, after getting drafted and knowing the situation, I knew I wanted to come down here (to UTSA).

“Getting an education … has always been a goal of mine. Getting a diploma and everything. So I think school and coming here has been a great choice for me. I don’t regret a thing.”

For Orloski, making the move from Idaho to Texas came with a twist. He wasn’t the only one in his family making it. His parents — Robert and Angela — have since moved into the area, as well.

They’re living in the Canyon Lake area.

“It’s nice to be able to be with them and go do stuff” Orloski said. “Like, going fishing at Canyon Lake. It’s been fun. Going there with my dad and my uncle. It’s been fun. An easy transition.”

UTSA coaches would agree that it’s been fun to watch Orloski develop as a player, although from another standpoint, the largemouth bass at Canyon Lake may not be completely thrilled with his move into the area with a rod and reel in hand.

“I haven’t gone too much,” Orloski said. “But it’s been fun when I’ve gone. Caught three or four each time.”

Coming up

Three-game series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Chapman field, starting tonight at 7. Series continues Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

Records

UTSA 7-6
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7-8

Roadrunners baseball on the upswing leading into home game vs. Tarleton State

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Back-to-back losses at the Sugar Land Classic a few weeks ago left the UTSA Roadrunners searching for that missing something. A day after dropping a 4-1 decision to the Creighton Bluejays, they gave up five early runs to the Lamar Cardinals and lost 5-3 at Constellation Field.

All in all, a 3-5 record at that point wasn’t what anyone in the Roadrunners’ camp wanted or expected.

Not to worry. The Roadrunners turned it around last week with four victories in five games against solid competition, boosting them to 6-6 leading into a Wednesday night home game against the Tarleton State Texans.

The Roadrunners don’t have everything ironed out in their quest to generate early-season momentum. But in a road victory at the University of Houston and two wins in three days at home over the Grand Canyon University Lopes, they have displayed some of the toughness and resilience that Coach Pat Hallmark always likes to see.

“I didn’t think we were real tough initially,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “We do look like we’re getting tougher. We do look like we’re still resilient and that we like to compete. Maybe another box we need to check is to play better defense and run the bases better. We’re starting to hit a little bit. I’m not disappointed in the pitching despite the total runs (allowed). I think we’re still pitching fine.

“The bats need to stay competitive, which they have been, but the next two boxes is that we need to shore up the defense a little bit. We’re pretty inconsistent there. And the baserunning, I got to look (as head coach) in the mirror on all of it. But if the team doesn’t run the bases good, certainly it could be some coaching there. So, we need to run the bases a little better.”

Coming up

Tarlton State at UTSA, Wednesday, 4 p.m.
UTSA at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Friday, 7 p.m.
UTSA at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
UTSA at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Sunday, 1 p.m.

A photographer’s eye view of the Roadrunners on opening night

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Pat Hallmark. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Pat Hallmark, in the blue shirt, pays a visit to the mound to make a point in Friday night’s season opener. – Photo by Joe Alexander .

The UTSA Roadrunners play the UT Arlington Mavericks in a doubleheader today, with a seven-inning game set for noon, followed by a nine-inning game that will start about 3 p.m. Arlington broke out to a couple of nine-run leads early in the season opener Friday night and then held on for a 10-9 victory. I wanted to share a package of photos by Joe Alexander. Here are some of his best images:

Relief pitcher Cooper Hrbacek. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Relief pitcher Cooper Hrbacek worked two scoreless innings in the opener to help the Roadrunners stay in the game. Hrbacek is from Abilene where he attended Wylie High School. He also played for McLennan College. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Hector Rodriguez. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Junior Hector Rodriguez joins the UTSA squad this season as a transfer from Galveston College. He played in high school at Houston Westside. – Photo by Joe Alexander.

Zane Spinn. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Shortstop Zane Spinn hails from Holland, Tex. He’s played in college at Temple JC and at Sam Houston State. – Photo by Joe Alexander.

Lorenzo Morresi. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Lorenzo Morresi, from Macerata, Italy, started at catcher for the Roadrunners. Morresi has played at New Mexico Junior College. He also represented Italy in the Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Starting pitcher Robert Orloski. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Hard-throwing pitcher Rob Orloski comes to UTSA from Middleton, Idaho. The Boston Red Sox selected him on the 20th round of the draft last summer. He elected to play at UTSA. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Alex Olivo. UTSA lost to UT-Arlington 10-9 in the Roadrunners' baseball season opener on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Alex Olivo started in the opener as a designated hitter. Olivo also plays first base. He comes to UTSA from Texas Southern. He played previously at Deer Park HS and Ranger College. – Joe Alexander.

Opening day: UTSA baseball coach on the lookout for ‘hunger and determination’ in his players

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UTSA baseball media day and practice on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

The UTSA Roadrunners will open a new baseball season at home today against the UT Arlington Mavericks. First pitch is at 4 p.m. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Over the past few seasons, baseball players at UTSA didn’t always match up in talent with the players they were tasked with defeating.

The one thing they did have was a core of leaders that embraced competition so eagerly and so completely, that the Roadrunners won 38 games in each of the past two years.

With that, UTSA athletes also won the undying respect of their coach, Pat Hallmark.

In retrospect, Hallmark will tell anyone who will listen that those two intangibles — a hunger to compete and a determination not to lose — are foundational to any winning program.

Two years ago, players such as Johnny Tapia and Ryan Flores just didn’t want to concede defeat. Same thing last year. With Luke Malone and Simon Miller and others, the Roadrunners found inspiration to play at a higher level.

With a new UTSA baseball season dawning today, all four of those players and others have moved on in their lives and in their careers, which is a bit unsettling for the coach.

Why? Because even though he knows he will have quite a bit of talent at his disposal this weekend against UT Arlington and in the coming months, he doesn’t know for sure whether his new players will have the essentials.

In other words, the hunger and the determination.

“We’ve certainly seen some signs of that,” Hallmark said a few days ago. “But until you get someone with a different color uniform that kind of hates your guts and wants to take something away from you, you don’t really know. So, we’ll find that out starting Friday.”

“It’ll take a little time to figure that out, who likes that confrontation.”

Through fall practices and conditioning, the coach said he can’t always tell who will bring the intangibles to the table.

“We’re about to play some people that don’t want the best for us,” he said. “And, likewise. We need to find 10, 11 guys that enjoy that (confrontation). That’s what we’ve had the last couple of years.”

Will it manifest itself today? The coach will be watching.

Coming up

Game 1 — UT Arlington at UTSA, 4 p.m. today.
Games 2 and 3 — UT Arlington at UTSA, doubleheader, with the first game at noon on Saturday.
Game 4 — UT Arlington at UTSA, 1 p.m. Sunday.

Notable

Pitching rotation: For UT Arlington — Zach Norris (2-2, 4.63 ERA last season) today. On Saturday, it’s Aaron Calhoun (0-1, 8.16 last season at Oklahoma) in the first game and then Caylon Dygert, a freshman, in the second game. Sunday’s starter is TBA. For UTSA — Freshman Robert Orloski today. On Saturday, Ruger Riojas (5-0, 4.11) in the first game and then Zach Royse (0-1, 9.58). On Sunday, TBA.

Outfielder Mason Lytle, a University of Oregon transfer, has opened eyes with his athleticism. But he’s not the only outfielder on the UTSA roster with speed and ability. Both Isaiah Walker and Tye Odom can run and track the ball, as well.

James Taussig. UTSA baseball media day and practice on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig is expected to bring some home-run power to the Roadrunners this season. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“I would say this is a very athletic outfield,” third baseman Matt King said. “We have depth, whether it’s starters or the guys coming off the bench. I think they’re all athletic. They’re all going to make some plays. They can all play defense. So, yeah, outfield defense is something we should not have to worry about.”

Who will have home-run power? Among the newcomers, keep an eye on first baseman / designated hitter Alexander Olivo, infielder/outfielder James Taussig and infielder Zane Spinn. Also, among returning players, both King and Caleb Hill have both shown the ability to send the ball out of the yard.

Olivo may be the one to watch in the power department. He produced 13 homers and a .706 slugging percentage last year at Texas Southern. In addition, Taussig is known around the batting cage for exit velocity of more than 100 mph, tops on the team.

Baseball America: UTSA projected as last team in the NCAA field

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UTSA is projected by Baseball America as “the last team in” the NCAA tournament’s 64-team bracket.

The magazine’s website has UTSA pegged to start play this weekend in the Austin Regional against the Texas State Bobcats.

The NCAA will announce the bracket Monday morning at 11 a.m. If the Roadrunners make it, they would become the first team in school history to receive an at-large bid to the national tournament.

That would include men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, softball and baseball. UTSA has reached the NCAA baseball tournament only three times, in 1994 and 2005 out of the Southland Conference and in 2013 out of the Western Athletic Conference.

According to the magazine, the “last four in” include UTSA at No. 64, along with Dallas Baptist at 63, Rutgers at 62 and Coastal Carolina at 61.

On the flip side, the magazine lists the “first four out” as No. 65 Liberty, followed by Wofford at 66, Old Dominion at 67 and West Virginia at 68.

The Roadrunners stated their case for qualification at the Conference USA tournament. At the C-USA event, they beat Florida Atlantic in their opener and followed that with back-to-back victories over 14th-ranked Southern Mississippi.

Southern Miss was the tournament host and the C-USA’s regular-season champion.

In downing the Golden Eagles by scores of 7-6 on Friday and 11-2 on Saturday, the Roadrunners vaulted up the national ratings percentage index into the 30s and made a strong case as an at-large candidate for the NCAA field.

On Sunday, they had a chance to earn the C-USA’s automatic bid, but they lost 9-8, falling to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on a ninth-inning single.

Conference USA hopes to get four teams in the NCAA field. The RPI standings after Sunday’s games had Southern Miss at No. 18, Louisiana Tech at No. 34, UTSA at 38 and Old Dominion at 41.

Record

UTSA 38-20