Ty Hodge scores on a double by Drew Detlefsen in the second inning. Detlefsen had a monster game with four hits and seven RBIs to lead the Roadrunners. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After UTSA gave up most of a 10-run lead and then hung on for a 12-9 victory over the rival Texas State Bobcats Tuesday night, Roadrunners coach Pat Hallmark issued a piece of advice to his players.

He gathered them on the infield and told them to make sure they enjoyed themselves after their 20th victory of the season.

“I told the guys in the little postgame meeting to celebrate,” Hallmark said. “A win’s a win, and they’re not easy to get, especially against this team, a good team right down the road. We recruit against each other. It’s a friendly rivalry, at least on the field. You know, our fans don’t like each other. But we respect those guys … So we should be really enjoying the win. You know, they scored too many (runs on us) at the end.

“But, yeah, I told ’em to get in the locker room, turn the music up and dance.”

UTSA starting pitcher Gunnar Brown threw five scoreless innings to earn the win. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Drew Detlefsen doubled three times, stroked four hits and drove in seven runs to back the pitching of UTSA teammate Gunnar Brown, who started and worked five scoreless innings.

A crowd of 1,457 packed Roadrunner Field to watch as UTSA and Texas State played for the first time this season in the Interstate 35 rivalry. In the beginning, UTSA dominated, ringing up a couple of four-run innings within the first five.

Detlefsen’s two-run double highlighted a four-run UTSA fifth that lifted the Roadrunners into a 10-0 lead.

But in keeping with what usually happens in this series involving non-conference foes separated by about 50 miles of highway in Central Texas, big leads rarely last, and Texas State rallied furiously.

The Bobcats scored three runs in the seventh inning, two in the eighth and four more in the ninth to make it a game again. Texas State’s Theo Kummer capped the ninth-inning rally with a towering three-run homer to left to make it 12-9.

After Kummer’s blast sailed high and far down the line, UTSA reliever James Hubbard stepped up to stop the rally. He closed out the game, getting Travis Bragg on a ground ball and then fanning Justin Vossos to end it.

With the victory, the Roadrunners can now claim a two-game winning streak and a 4-2 record in the last six meetings against the Bobcats. Texas State leads the more than three-decades long series 63-41, with a second matchup this season scheduled for April 29 in San Marcos.

UTSA fans can thank Detlefsen and Brown, in particular, for their overall record on the season improving to a robust 20-7.

Detlefsen, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound slugger, doubled in three straight plate appearances — in the second inning, in the fourth and again in the fifth. He also added a single in the eighth in a stunning four-for-five performance.

His first two bagger sailed to the fence in right-center, clearing the bases and bringing in three runs in a four-run rally that boosted the Roadrunners into a 5-0 lead.

Texas State starting pitcher Jackson Mayo yielded three runs, two of them earned, in one inning to take the loss. — Photo by Joe Alexander

In the fourth, he ignited a rally with another opposite-field blast and later scored on a double by James Stucky.

In the fifth, Detlefsen struck again, jerking a ball into the left field corner and driving in two more to spark another four-run inning.

Not to be outdone, his two-run single in the eighth gave him seven RBI for the night and a team-leading 44 in 27 games this season.

When Hallmark recruited the native Texan out of Dodge City (Kan.) junior college last year, he knew he had a player that would produce runs.

But even the UTSA coach is surprised at how he has excelled in his first season as an NCAA Division I player.

“It’s turning out to be a huge get (for us),” Hallmark said. “Drew can hit. We recruited him because he can hit. He has a history of hitting. He’s hitting a little better than we anticipated. Again, I know it’s not as sexy, but I’m very proud of Drew’s defense.

“He made a play Sunday (in Charlotte, N.C.) against the wall that should have been a double. And tonight, obviously, he had seven RBI. But, I’m just proud of Drew’s work ethic, things that don’t get noticed.”

Brown, a transfer from Sam Houston State, emerged as something of a revelation in the sense that he hadn’t pitched in nine days.

In making only his fifth appearance of the season and his second start, the 6-foot-4 righthander artfully mixed four pitches to shut down the Bobcats. He gave up only two hits, walked one and struck out seven in five innings.

Hallmark said he started Brown because Texas State is adept at hitting fastballs, and Brown has a variety of pitches he can throw to keep a team off balance.

The challenge was to have him ready to meet the moment as he competed against a rival and in front of a big home crowd. Hallmark liked what he saw.

“In this day and age, you see it in the big leagues, these guys just rare back and throw a pitch — cutter or fastball, or whatever,” Hallmark said. “Gunnar threw four pitches, all for strikes, based on who the hitter was and how that hitter needed to be attacked.

“He was a little bit old school, fun to watch. He used the fastball here and there. He used the changeup to the lefties, and he used the curveball and the slider to the righties. So, I enjoyed watching him. And he threw every pitch for strikes.

“It was wonderful.”

Records

Texas State 11-13
UTSA 20-7

Coming up

Florida Atlantic at UTSA, Friday, 6 p.m.
Florida Atlantic at UTSA, Saturday, 4 p.m.
Florida Atlantic at UTSA, Sunday, noon

Umpire shaken up

Home plate umpire Matthew Martinez had to leave the game after getting hit in the face mask three times in a little more than an inning, Hallmark said.

Martinez talked to both Hallmark and Texas State coach Steve Trout about his situation during a break in the action for a pitching change in the bottom of the second inning.

Texas State coach Steven Trout meets with home-plate umpire Matthew Martinez before the game. In the second inning, Martinez exited the game after getting hit in the face mask three times. — Photo by Joe Alexander

“He just came to me and Coach Trout and said, ‘Hey guys, that last one that got me was the third one. He said ‘I just don’t feel like myself. If I try to go, I’m not going to give you the greatest game back here,’ and I respect that,” Hallmark said.

“You know,” the coach said, “anytime your head doesn’t feel right, you’re probably not going to be able to call 90 mph pitches ticking edges of plates. So, I hope he’s OK. But I appreciate him thinking about the quality of the game.”

After Martinez’s exit, a three-man umpiring crew became a two-man crew.

Clayton Hamm, one of the umpires in the field, took over home-plate duties for Martinez, and Matthew Hanson covered all the calls on the bases.

Hitters on a tear

UTSA entered the game with 281 hits, the most in the nation. The Roadrunners also had a .324 average, which ranked 12th in the nation and first in the American Athletic Conference.

Against the Bobcats, they went nine for 33 at the plate. Four of the hits went for doubles, including three by Detlefsen and one by Andrew Stucky, who was three for three.

The Bobcats, by contrast, have struggled at the plate. They were batting .255 coming in to Roadrunner Field. But they showed their potential with home runs by Justin Vossos, Chase Mora and Theo Kummer and two doubles by Dawson Park. For Mora, it was his 26th career home run.

Drew Detlefsen had four hits and seven RBI Tuesday night, powering the UTSA Roadrunners past the Texas State Bobcats. — Photo by Joe Alexander