
James Taussig’s three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning helped boost the UTSA Roadrunners to a 10-2 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats on opening day of the NCAA Austin Regional. The win was historic in that the team had never won a game in the NCAA playoffs, going 0-2 each time in three previous trips. – Photo by Joe Alexander
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
AUSTIN — UTSA’s dream season just keeps getting more and more surreal by the day. The Roadrunners won the first NCAA playoff game in their 34-year baseball history Friday night by defeating the Kansas State Wildcats 10-2 on opening day of the Austin Regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Norris McClure hit a solo home run in the third inning and James Taussig added a three-run shot over the right field wall in the sixth to back the pitching of Zach Royse and others, who held the Wildcats to more than five runs below their season average.
On top of all that, the team had another, more personal reason to celebrate. Assistant coach Ryan Aguayo took an early Friday morning drive home to be with his wife, who was in labor. She gave birth to the couple’s daughter at about 9:30 a.m.
Later, Aguayo drove back to Austin and was at the game. “I told him, ‘We could run it without you,’ ” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark told reporters. “But he’s here.”
The emotions will continue to swirl within the camp of the second-seeded Roadrunners over the next 24 hours as they prepare to face the host and No. 1-seeded Texas Longhorns on Saturday night.

UTSA’s Norris McClure energized the team by slashing an opposite-field solo homer in the third inning. – Photo by Joe Alexander
First the Wildcats (31-25) will play the HCU Huskies (32-24) in an elimination game Saturday at 2 p.m. First pitch for the Roadrunners (45-13) and the Longhorns (43-12) will be at 8 p.m., with the winner advancing to the regional finals.
Earlier Friday, Texas surged with a five-run fifth inning to down HCU, 7-1, without using any of its front-line pitchers.
Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle said lefthander Luke Harrison would “probably” pitch Saturday for the Longhorns, the regular-season champions from the Southeastern Conference and the second-seeded team among 64 in the NCAA field. Roadrunners coach Pat Hallmark said in the postgame that he isn’t ready to name his starter yet.
Royse (9-4) answered the call in the program’s first NCAA game in 12 years, earning the victory by working five and a third innings and allowing only one run on three hits. He struck out five and walked three.
Robert Orloski and Christian Okerholm closed in the final three and two thirds innings. Orloski performed erratically at times but ended up getting some important outs. He yielded one run on three hits, walked one and struck out four.
A defining moment for Orloski came in the top of the seventh when he gave up a one-out solo home run to Nick English. At that point, he continued to struggle, walking Shintaro Inoue and giving up a single to Maximus Martin.

Starting pitcher Zach Royse (9-4) earned the victory and his coach’s praise for holding the explosive Wildcats to one run and three hits in five and a third innings. – Photo by Joe Alexander
But with runners at first and second base and UTSA leading by five runs, the Idaho native fanned sluggers Seth Dardar and Keegan O’Connor to end the threat. O’Connor had 16 home runs this year and Dardar 12.
Royse, from Katy Cinco Ranch, worked his way out of major trouble in the fourth inning. At the time, the Roadrunners led 2-0, and Kansas State loaded the bases with no outs. The Wildcats ultimately produced only one run out of the situation on a sacrifice fly by freshman AJ Evasco.
Royse retired Kansas State veteran David Bishop on an outfield fly ball to end it.
“Zach Royse was the difference,” Hallmark said. “It’s fantastic. One of the better pitched games of the whole season against a team that can really hit. Obviously the three-run homer was really big, too. I’m just proud of the team. Zach was fabulous.”
UTSA entered the NCAA playoffs coming off a record-setting regular season during which they established a number of firsts. Maybe most importantly, they qualified for the national tournament without even having to win a conference tournament for an automatic bid. They did it by rolling through the regular season, topping 40 wins for the first time, along the way to a 44-win regular season.
In the AAC, they dominated from start to finish, establishing the best record in conference history at 23-4. Even after going 2-2 and getting bounced out of the conference tournament, the Roadrunners would not be denied. Perhaps bolstered by all of it, including wins over Texas A&M and Texas, they beat yet another team from a power conference — in an NCAA setting, no less.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark has led the Roadrunners to an NCAA victory for the first time. The win lifted UTSA to 45-13 on the season. – Photo by Joe Alexander
“I’m just so happy for the team and the 29 other guys that suit up every game with us,” Taussig said. “We celebrate for them. Super happy for coach. All of them, coach (Ryan) Aguayo, coach Hallmark, coach (Zach) Butler, they took a chance on me and told me this was the plan. One game isn’t all we had in mind. But you got to start somewhere. I’m just real happy for the team.”
Taussig, one of the team’s hottest offensive players in April and May, credited Aguayo for scouting reports that allow him to swing freely on pitches that he anticipates.
He said he was looking for a changeup elevated in the strike zone from Kansas State reliever Ty Ruhl, who had just entered the game in place of starter Jacob Frost.
“I was looking for the changeup up (in the zone) and I got it first pitch,” he said. “Coach Hallmark always tells us the first pitch is the best one to hit and I was ready to go. I got my best pass off. Controlled what I can control. Bat speed … and I got the results.”
Saturday’s schedule
Losers’ bracket: HCU vs. Kansas State, 2 p.m.
Winners’ bracket: UTSA vs. Texas, 8 p.m.
Seeding, records
1 – Texas (43-12)
2 – UTSA (45-13)
3 – Kansas State (31-25)
4 – HCU (32-24)
Notable
The Texas Longhorns and the UTSA Roadrunners are 1-0 in the double-elimination, Austin Regional. Both the Kansas State Wildcats and the HCU Huskies are 0-1.
Quotable
What does it mean to get the program’s first NCAA victory? Said Coach Pat Hallmark, “I don’t know. I’m trying to get three wins, to be honest with you. That’s what I told the guys when the game ended. I said, ‘Be happy. Enjoy it. Enjoy the moment.’ But we’re here to get three wins.”
Three wins would make the Roadrunners the regional champions. Each of 16 regional champs around the nation will move on next week to play in a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional. The winners of the eight super regionals will advance to the Men’s College World Series.

James Taussig connects on what would be a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning. – Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig follows through on his home-run swing. – Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig reacts when he knows his drive has cleared the wall in right field. It was his 10th homer of the season and his sixth since April 25. – Photo by Joe Alexander