Tag Archives: Rice Owls

Rice wins to end UTSA’s string of five straight AAC series victories

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA’s five-for-five streak of weekend series victories in the American Athletic Conference came to an end Saturday afternoon in Houston.

The Rice Owls erupted for five runs in the first inning and three in the second for a commanding eight-run lead en route to a series-clinching 9-3 victory over Roadrunners.

After winning 9-8 in 10 innings on Friday night, the Owls came alive early as Nathan Becker hit a two-run double and Trey Duffield added a three-run homer in the bottom of the first, allowing the Owls to cruise to their second straight win over the Roadrunners and their fifth in a row overall.

The series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m.

Rice cranked out 16 hits to back the pitching of lefthander J.D. McCracken, who pitched 8 and 1/3 innings for the victory. McCracken was a steady performer, yielding only six hits and three walks while striking out three. The Rice infield defense turned three double plays behind him.

One of those double plays served to kill what potentially could have been a big inning for the Roadrunners in the top of the fourth.

With one out and a runner on base, Ty Tilson hit a ball down the right field line. The first base umpire turned around and watched it hit the ground near the line. He called it fair, which would have resulted in one run on the board for the Roadrunners.

But after a review, the umpires reversed themselves and called it foul. Tilson eventually bounced into an inning-ending double play.

Mason Lytle hit a two-run homer for the Roadrunners in the top of the sixth. Alex Olivo set it up with a leadoff double, and Lytle followed with his ninth homer of the year to make it 9-2.

UTSA scored again in the ninth, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep alive what had been a remarkable string of successful weekends in its new conference.

As former rivals in the Conference USA, UTSA and Rice are playing their inaugural season as members of the AAC. UTSA started the conference schedule in style, winning two of three against defending champion East Carolina.

The Roadrunners followed with series victories over Tulane, Charlotte, Memphis and UAB. The weekend triumphs against Tulane and Memphis both came on the road. Against both Charlotte and UAB, UTSA lost the opening game and rebounded to win the next two.

With attention turning to Sunday’s series finale, Rice is the team on a roll. The Owls not only have won five straight, they have also won eight of their last nine. Given that the Owls had lost nine straight and 13 of 14 before the winning started, it’s a notable achievement.

The Owls also feel good about reversing a trend against the Roadrunners in the series between the two in-state rivals. The Roadrunners won five of six against the Owls last season. In three previous seasons, Pat Hallmark-coached UTSA won 12 and lost five against Rice.

Records

UTSA 24-18, 11-6
Rice 17-25, 8-9

Coming up

Game 3 of a three-game series in the AAC. UTSA at Rice, Sunday at 1 p.m. UTSA will play a non-conference, mid-week game at home Tuesday at 6 p.m. against I-35 rival Texas State. The Roadrunners return to AAC play at home next weekend (May 3-5) against the Wichita State Shockers.

Notable

American Conference-leading East Carolina (34-8, 13-4) has won two straight on the road at Memphis this weekend, claiming a 14-3 victory on Saturday afternoon after winning 14-0 in seven innings (on the run rule) on Friday night.

Rice catches a 10th-inning break and beats UTSA, 9-8

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After letting a three-run lead slip away in the ninth inning Friday night, Rice Owls pushed across the winning run with one out in the bottom of the 10th, beating the UTSA Roadrunners, 9-8, in the American Athletic Conference.

A crazy sequence of two plays gave the victory to the Owls and knocked the Roadrunners out of first place in the AAC.

First, Tobias Motley lofted a pop fly to shallow right field. With the UTSA right fielder charging in, the ball dropped behind him, allowing Motley to motor all the way to third base.

Jacob Devenny followed with a squeeze bunt, ruled as an RBI single, for the winner. UTSA pitcher Ruger Riojas couldn’t catch it cleanly, everyone was safe, and Rice came away with the victory in the first game of a three-game series at Reckling Park.

It was a heartbreaker for the Roadrunners, and it was also costly. Earlier in the evening, the East Carolina Pirates won on the road, beating the Memphis Tigers 14-0 on the run rule in seven innings.

The Pirates now lead the AAC race with a record of 12-4, followed by the Roadrunners, who fell one game back at 11-5.

Motley and Ben Dukes slammed two-out, two-run homers off UTSA freshman Rob Orloski in the second inning, staking the Owls to a 4-1 lead.

The Roadrunners battled back with three runs on only one hit off Parker Smith in the top of the fourth to tie it. Undeterred, the Owls answered with two more scores in the bottom half to make it 6-4.

Manny Garza hiked the Owls’ advantage to 7-4 when he belted a solo home run in the fifth.

In the eighth inning, the Roadrunners started a rally, getting a couple of runners on for Caleb Hill, who rapped an RBI single through the right side.

At that point, Rice reliever Davion Hixon got tough. With runners at second and third, UTSA needed only a base hit to tie it, but Hixon struck out Alexander Olivo on a high fastball and got Matt King on a fly ball to center to end the threat.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Owls tacked on a run for insurance. Treyton Rank’s RBI single off Ruger Riojas padded the lead to 8-5.

UTSA rallied in the ninth to load the bases against Hixon with a leadoff double by Ty Tilson, a single by Isaiah Walker and then a walk to Diego Diaz. At that point, Mark Henning hit a one-hopper to Hixon, who threw home for the force and the first out.

Subsequently, Broc Parmer came to the plate as a pinch hitter and delivered with a two-run double to right, pulling UTSA to within one. With runners at first and third, Mason Lytle smashed a double off the wall in right, bringing in the tying run to make it 8-8.

Records

UTSA 24-17, 11-5
Rice 16-25, 7-9

Coming up

Game Two of a three-game series in the AAC. UTSA at Rice, Saturday at 2 p.m. Game 3 is Sunday at 1 p.m.

UTSA opens a three-game AAC baseball series at Rice

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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

Infielder/designated hitter Alexander Olivo batted .462 with four RBI in four games for the Roadrunners last week. – File photo by Joe Alexander.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For the UTSA Roadrunners, winning baseball games against the Rice Owls once seemed like a nearly insurmountable challenge. Winning on the road at Rice? Well, that once seemed to border on the impossible.

Lately, the tables have turned, according to a game-by-game account of the series in the UTSA baseball record book. Rice holds a 28-22 edge, but UTSA has won 15 of the last 21 since 2018, including the last four.

More surprisingly, UTSA is 9-4 against Rice in the last 13 meetings at Houston. Quite a change from the early days of the series when the Owls once went 13-0 at home against the Roadrunners over the first 11 years of the series.

Naturally, except for historical context, none of that matters when the Roadrunners open a three-game road series against the Owls at Reckling starting tonight.

With both competing in their first season among the 10 baseball-playing members of the American Athletic Conference, UTSA comes into the weekend tied for first place with the East Carolina Pirates. Rice enters tied for eighth, though the Owls have started to show more consistency of late.

Coached by Jose Cruz Jr., the namesake son of a 1980s-era Houston Astros standout, the Owls have won six of their last seven overall. They are 5-1 in their last six AAC games after sweeping three at South Florida last weekend.

Led by slugging Treyton Rank, the Owls scored in double figures in each of their three games against the Bulls. Rank, a junior from Monticello, Fla., hit .581 with three doubles, a homer and eight RBI in the series.

Records

UTSA 24-16, 11-4
Rice 15-25, 6-9

Coming up

A three-game American Athletic Conference series. UTSA at Rice, Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m. Freshman Robert Orloski is scheduled to start the opener for the Roadrunners against the Owls’ Parker Smith.

Notable

UTSA head coach Pat Hallmark is 12-5 against Rice, where he once played for a season and later served as a longtime assistant coach under Wayne Graham. Hallmark’s Roadrunners went 5-1 against Rice last season. Hallmark played at Rice in 1995 and worked as an assistant coach there from 2006-16.

After an up-and-down start to this season, Hallmark’s Roadrunners are 14-5 over their last 19 games. Last week, UTSA went 3-1 at home, winning two of three on the weekend against the UAB Blazers.

The Roadrunners have remained in the AAC title race with East Carolina despite the loss of injured Tye Odom. UTSA is 7-3 without Odom, a multi-skilled outfielder, since he went down with a high ankle sprain at home against Charlotte on April 5. His availability for the Rice series is uncertain.

UTSA worked utility man Isaiah Walker back into the lineup last weekend against UAB. Walker, one of the team’s best defensive players at multiple positions, has played in only six games this season.

The Roadrunners have won all five series they have played in the AAC, including road series wins at Tulane (3-0) and Memphis (2-1). UTSA players in the hunt for postseason honors include pitchers Ruger Riojas and Ulises Quiroga, outfielders Mason Lytle and Caleb Hill and infielder Matt King.

Riojas leads the AAC in saves (six), is second in wins (seven) and third in ERA (2.49). In his last outing, the sophomore from Wimberley took the loss, the first of his career. Last Friday night, he yielded four runs in 3 and 2/3 innings as UAB beat UTSA, 7-3.

Quiroga (5-0 3.92) has emerged as the team’s stopper on Sundays. The senior from Baytown is 4-0 in his last four starts. In three of those starts, he has yielded two or fewer earned runs in six or more innings.

Lytle (with a batting average of .388) ranks second in the AAC in hitting. He and Alexander Olivo (.368), Hill (.354) and King (.333) rank among the AAC’s top nine in average. Olivo batted .462 in four games last week.

UTSA women win, seize a No. 4 seed in the AAC tournament

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Idara Udo. UTSA beat Rice 60-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, March 5, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

The American Athletic Conference tournament opens Saturday in Fort Worth, but freshman Idara Udo and the UTSA Roadrunners have earned a double bye all the way through to Monday’s quarterfinals.- Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For the UTSA women’s basketball team, its winning formula Tuesday night was a lot like so many others this season. Appy pressure on defense. Rebound with a fury. On the offensive end, pound the ball into the paint and make the opponent stand up to a physical style.

Once again, the Roadrunners made it all work. Despite their own offensive struggles, they opened a 12-point lead at halftime, held a 15-point advantage after three quarters and bullied their way to a 60-52 victory over the Rice Owls.

With the victory, the Roadrunners finished the regular season 16-13 and clinched a tie for fourth in the American Athletic Conference at 10-8.

Elyssa Coleman. UTSA beat Rice 60-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, March 5, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Elyssa Coleman produced 14 points and six rebounds in the regular-season finale against Rice despite foul trouble that limited her to 17 minutes. – Photo by Joe Alexander

About 90 minutes after the game was completed, the AAC on its website posted a bracket indicating the Roadrunners would be the No. 4 seed in the five-day AAC postseason tournament, which will open on Saturday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

A double bye will place UTSA in a strong position to claim the conference’s postseason title. In other words, the team will get to skip past play on Saturday and Sunday and will get to start in the quarterfinal round on Monday, March 11.

With such an advantageous placement in the bracket, the Roadrunners will need to win only three games in three days to clinch the AAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Before the conference posted its bracket, UTSA coach Karen Aston said in her postgame news conference that she believes the Roadrunners, picked to finish eighth in the conference’s preseason poll, would get the No. 4 seed. “I think we’re fourth, unless I’m missing something, and I don’t think I am,” she said.

AAC teams receiving double byes into the tournament quarterfinals will be No. 1 Tulsa, No. 2 North Texas, No. 3 Temple and UTSA.

Tulsa and North Texas both won Tuesday night and finished 13-5, while Temple, at 12-5, plays its finale on Wednesday at home against FAU.

Officially, UTSA and South Florida have tied for fourth in the standings at 10-8. But with the Roadrunners having beaten the Bulls 65-42 in San Antonio on Jan. 16, they get No. 4 seed via the two-team tiebreaker, which is based on the one and only head-to-head meeting this season.

“I’m really proud of the way the team played tonight,” Aston said. “I know that they haven’t necessarily been in that situation before, where the stakes were as high as they were today. They knew first of all that if they didn’t win, they had a chance to get in that bottom four and play the first day (on Saturday).

“We’ve been talking about that since Day 1 … that it’s a difficult track if you have to play that first day. So I think that was on their minds and they were ready to play. I could tell they were ready to go at shootaround. I thought the last five minutes, we got a little bit tight, and maybe tried to play not to lose.

Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA beat Rice 60-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, March 5, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jordyn Jenkins came through in the last minute with five of her 14 points as the Roadrunners fended off a late Rice Owls rally. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“But that’s a learning process.”

Aston said that by posting a winning record in conference play, UTSA has put itself into a position to play in a postseason tournament, no matter what happens to the Roadrunners in Fort Worth at the AAC.

“It could be one of three tournaments,” UTSA’s third-year coach said. “We hope it’s the big one (the NCAA tournament), but the fact is, we’re eligible for postseason and that’s just an unbelievable feat in the time that we’ve been trying to build this program.”

Initially, after UTSA completed the game and secured the victory, players looked almost as exhausted as they were exuberant. It was a physical game. They had the upper hand for most of it, but the Owls made a run at the end behind post Malia Fischer, who produced 30 points and 12 rebounds.

Later, after the Roadrunners sang the school song at halfcourt, players were informed that all the dominoes had fallen their way on the last night of the season, meaning that they likely had attained the double bye. In unison, they celebrated, with some of them smiling broadly, some of them clapping and others just screaming.

UTSA redshirt junior Elyssa Coleman told reporters that she doesn’t think the Roadrunners have a so-called ‘ceiling’ in terms of how far they might advance in the AAC and beyond. “It’s really cool,” she said, “like in my first year (in 2021-22), winning that first conference game was like a Super Bowl win for us.”

Coleman, playing only 17 minutes because of foul trouble, finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Jordyn Jenkins, playing in only her eighth game of the season, produced 14 points and nine boards.

After spending most of the past year rehabilitating a knee injury, Jenkins came up big at the end of the game against the Owls, scoring five points in the final 30 seconds to help the Roadrunners close out the game.

Freshman Idara Udo also played a major role, scoring 10 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end. As a team, UTSA outrebounded Rice, 45-41. The Roadrunners held the Owls to 30 percent shooting on 18 of 60 from the field.

Kyra White. UTSA beat Rice 60-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, March 5, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Senior guard Kyra White played 35 minutes and totaled seven points, two assists and two rebounds. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Sidney Love. UTSA beat Rice 60-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, March 5, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Sidney Love had four points, seven rebounds and two assists. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Records

Rice 15-14, 9-9
UTSA 16-13, 10-8

Coming up

AAC women’s basketball championship

Saturday, March 9
Game 1: No. 13 Wichita State vs. No. 12 Florida Atlantic – 4 p.m.| ESPN+
Game 2: No. 14 Tulane vs. No. 11 SMU – 6 p.m. | ESPN+

Sunday, March 10
Game 3 – No 9 East Carolina vs. No. 8 Memphis – Noon | ESPN+
Game 4 – Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 South Florida – 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Game 5 – No. 10 Rice vs. No. 7 UAB – 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Game 6 – Game 2 winner vs. No. 6 Charlotte – 8 p.m. | ESPN+

Monday March 11
Game 7 – Game 3 winner vs. No. 1 Tulsa – Noon | ESPN+
Game 8 – Game 4 winner vs. No. 4 UTSA – 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Game 9 – Game 5 winner vs. No. 2 North Texas – 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Game 10 – Game 6 winner vs. No. 3 Temple – 8 p.m. | ESPN+

Tuesday, March 12
Game 11 – Semifinal 1, Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner – 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Game 12 – Semifinal 2, Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner – 8 p.m. | ESPN+

Wednesday, March 13
Game 13 – Championship, Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner – 6 p.m. | ESPNU

–From the AAC website

Aysia Proctor. UTSA beat Rice 60-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, March 5, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Freshman Aysia Proctor hit three of six from the field and had six points and three rebounds. – Photo by Joe Alexander

First half

After misfiring on 10 straight shots in the second quarter, the UTSA Roadrunners started to make a move.

Finally breaking through on the offensive end, they scored 10 points in two minutes. Near the end of the streak, the Roadrunners trapped at midcourt, forced a turnover and turned it into a Jordyn Jenkins fast-break layup.

Pressured again by the Roadrunners, the Owls finally took advantage and turned it into a Malia Fischer layup for the final points of the half. UTSA ducked into the dressing room leading 30-18.

For the Roadrunners, it was a productive half in many ways. They forced the Owls into 7 of 26 shooting from the field, including 0 for 9 from the three-point line. They also harassed the Owls into 11 turnovers.

Then again, it felt like the Roadrunners should have been able to open a wider gap than 12 points at intermission.

UTSA hit only 12 of 32 from the floor, with some of the misses coming on clean looks. Despite Rice’s problems offensively, UTSA never led by more than seven in the first quarter. Their 12-point lead was the largest of the half.

Karen Aston. UTSA beat Rice 60-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, March 5, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Third-year coach Karen Aston has led the Roadrunners to a 16-13 record overall, including 10-8 in the American. UTSA hasn’t had a winning record in the regular season since 2014-15 when team went 16-14, which ultimately became 16-15 after a Conference USA tournament loss. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Mason scores 30 as Rice holds off UTSA down the stretch, 80-76

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Adante' Holiman. Rice beat UTSA 80-76 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Guard Adante’ Holiman hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 points off the bench in his first game since Jan. 2. Holiman sat out the last seven games with a sprained ankle. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Mekhi Mason scored 17 of his season-high 30 points in the second half and Anthony Selden knocked down two free throws in the last minute Saturday, lifting the Rice Owls to an 80-76 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners.

Jordan Ivy-Curry led the Roadrunners with 19 points.

UTSA lost its second straight game and fell to 1-6 in its last seven despite a spirited comeback in the final five minutes that fell short.

Mekhi Mason. Rice beat UTSA 80-76 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Arizona native Mekhi Mason hit 11 of 19 from the field and scored a season-high 30 points for the Rice Owls. – Photo by Joe Alexander

With 5:02 remaining, Rice took a commanding 73-58 lead as Mason pulled up to knock down a jumper.

From there, the Roadrunners rallied with an 18-5 run over the next four and a half minutes to pull within two.

Guard Adante’ Holiman, playing his first game after missing most of January with a sprained ankle, swished a three-pointer off the wing to make it a 78-76 game with 33 seconds left.

After the timeout, UTSA pressured the ball, trapping just as Rice brought it past halfcourt. The ball was swung around to Selden, and UTSA fouled him with 21 seconds left.

Selden, a 73 percent free-throw shooter who was one for two at the line at that point, made both free throws to give the Owls a four-point lead.

On the other end, the Roadrunners came up empty with four straight misses before the buzzer sounded.

The difference in the game was Mason, a 6-foot-5 sophomore from Gilbert, Ariz. Mason entered the arena averaging 14 points for the season on 41 percent shooting, including 32 of 97 from the three-point arc. He torched the Roadrunners by hitting 11 of 19 from the field. Mason made three of seven from distance.

Jordan Ivy-Curry. Rice beat UTSA 80-76 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jordan Ivy-Curry scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Point guard Travis Evee also hurt the Roadrunners, scoring 18 points and sinking four of eight from the arc. In all, the Owls made 12 of 29 from distance, getting the best of the 3-point shooting Roadrunners, who managed only seven of 25 on the afternoon.

In the teams’ last meeting, played in Houston on Jan. 6, the Roadrunners won it 89-82 in overtime and slowed down the Owls with a 2-3 zone.

They tried to mix it up a little in the rematch, throwing out a 1-3-1, but Evee, Mason, Alem Huseinovich and Noah Shelby took turns shooting over it with success.

“I thought the 1-3-1 matched up,” UTSA coach Steve Henson said on the team’s broadcast, on KTKR AM-760. “At times it had the effect that we needed it to have. Guys embraced that this week. I thought they did a good job with that. But, long way to go. We got to play harder. Got to play harder. There (are) loose balls we’re not getting. Rebounds we’re not getting. We got to play harder.”

Records

Rice 9-13, 3-6
UTSA 8-14, 2-7

Scott Pera. Rice beat UTSA 80-76 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Scott Pera’s Rice Owls improved to 3-2 over their last five games. The Owls have notched victories over Temple, Memphis and UTSA in that stretch. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Coming up

UTSA at Wichita State, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

Notable

The Owls nearly completely turned the tables on the two Roadrunners who hurt them the most last month. Center Carlton Linguard Jr. scored 24 points and Dre Fuller Jr. had 23 in the first meeting. In the rematch, Linguard scored six and Fuller was shut out. Both were 0 for 3 from long distance in the first half, when the Roadrunners went 3 for 17 as a team.

Linguard battled hard to the end, making some plays down the stretch and finishing with 10 rebounds.

Leading the Roadrunners were Jordan Ivy-Curry, Christian Tucker, Adante’ Holiman and Trey Edmonds. Ivy-Curry, the team’s leading scorer, hit for 19 points on 6 for 16 shooting in 27 minutes. Tucker produced 14 points, eight assists and four steals.

Holiman, a UTSA sophomore from McAlester, Okla., scored 11 points in 17 minutes off the bench. He injured his ankle on Jan. 2 late in a home game against the UAB Blazers. The 6-foot transfer from UT Rio Grande Valley sat out the next seven games in rehabilitation before starting to work out full speed earlier this week.

“I thought he was really good considering how much time he’s missed,” Henson said. “He got three practices in this week, (on) Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He stepped right in like hasn’t missed a beat.”

Edmonds, one of UTSA’s big men, scored 10 points on four of five shooting. Massal Diouf, a power forward off the bench, contributed six points and seven rebounds.

Trey Edmonds. Rice beat UTSA 80-76 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA center Trey Edmonds scores on a breakaway dunk. Edmonds finished with 10 points on four of five shooting. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA men down Rice 89-82 in overtime for first AAC win

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Carlton Linguard Jr. scored 24 points and Dre Fuller Jr. added 23 on Saturday as the UTSA Roadrunners claimed their first American Athletic Conference victory in men’s basketball, defeating the Rice Owls 89-82 in overtime in Houston.

In a game played off the Rice campus at the University of St. Thomas, UTSA hit 14 three-pointers to secure the victory, with Fuller and Linguard knocking down nine between them.

Fuller stroked five for nine from beyond the arc and Linguard, a 7-foot center, hit four of eight.

Records

UTSA 7-8, 1-2
Rice 6-9, 0-2

Roadrunners power past Owls 11-6 to complete a series sweep

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

If you’re looking for the most important storyline for UTSA in its sweep of the Rice Owls this weekend at Roadrunner Field, it would have to center on championship-caliber resilience and inner toughness. In winning three straight, the team had to come from behind each day.

On Friday, the Roadrunners erased deficits of four and three runs.

Saturday, on a day prolonged by a two-hour weather delay, they were down five runs twice early and came back to win again. Finally, in the finale on Sunday, they took a big early lead themselves, lost it momentarily, and then rumbled to score six runs in the sixth en route to an 11-6 victory.

Senior Leyton Barry capped the big inning with his eighth homer of the season and the first grand slam of his career.

As a result, the Roadrunners registered their fifth series sweep of the season, claimed their 36th victory — three shy of the school record — and seized significant momentum leading into next weekend’s Conference USA showdown against the Dallas Baptist Patriots.

“It feels great,” Barry said. “Any time you can get a sweep, it feels fantastic. Especially this weekend, because we came back in all three games. Especially the first two, when we were down by multiple runs. So to come back and win all those games, it feels even better than the other sweeps, just because we had to fight for these wins.”

As the weekend progressed, it was evident that power hitting would be a major factor. The Owls hit seven home runs, but the Roadrunners matched them with seven of their own. In the finale, Ben Royo and Guy Garibay Jr. powered balls out of the yard for Rice. UTSA answered with long balls by Antonio Valdez, Caleb Hill and Barry.

With UTSA trailing 6-5 going into its half of the sixth, Cristian Cienfuegos entered to pitch for Rice and Hill, one of the hottest hitters on the team, greeted him immediately with a solo homer. Matt King followed with a single and moved up 90 feet on a ground ball.

With Sammy Diaz at the plate, a key sequence unfolded. Diaz singled into right field, and when the throw came into the infield, it got away for an error. King scored easily to make it 7-6, while Diaz reached second base. The miscue seemed to rattle Cienfuegos, who promptly hit the next two batters with pitches to put three men on the bags.

At that point, Rice coaches lifted Cienfuegos, replacing him with Matt Linskey. But on the tall righthander’s first offering, Barry met it solidly and pulled it over the right field wall. In other words, four runs on one swing. As soon as he rounded the bases and met his teammates, he jumped up for the leaping arm-bump and took a seat. He was then greeted with a question.

“In the dugout, someone mentioned, ‘Hey, have you hit a grand slam before?’ Barry recalled. “I said, ‘You know, now that I think about it, I haven’t.’ So, that was pretty great.”

UTSA pitching had its ups and downs all weekend. Sunday was no different. Fischer Kingsbery started and worked two innings. He struck out three but yielded a long homer to Royo, his second of the series, which cleared the wall in center field. Uli Quiroga had a rough go of it, giving up five runs in the fourth inning, including a three-run homer by Guy Garibay, Jr.

Fortunately for the Roadrunners, Ruger Riojas (5-0) was on his game. Entering in the fifth inning, he pitched all the way into the eighth. In 3 and 1/3 scoreless innings, he gave up five hits. Two came in the eighth, which prompted UTSA to replace him with Ryan Beaird, who got out of the inning on a deep fly ball by Aaron Smigelski. Beaird finished with 1 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball, yielding only one hit.

For Beaird, it was his second strong outing of the weekend. He pitched one shutout inning Friday night and earned the victory. Though his season has been marked with some inconsistency, the Roadrunners are happy to see him throwing well going into the last two weeks of the regular season.

“It feels good,” said Beaird, a sophomore from Reagan High School. “It’s nice to know that I have eight other guys playing for me, willing to put themselves on the line to play for me. Every single one of those guys out there, they’re playing hard. It’s nice to have that when you’re on the mound.”

Records

Rice 17-30, 7-17
UTSA 36-12, 19-4

Series glance

Friday: UTSA beats Rice, 9-7…UTSA trailed 4-0 and 7-4 and then rallied.
Saturday: UTSA beats Rice, 10-8…Trailed 5-0 and 6-1 and, after a weather delay, rallied again.
Sunday: UTSA beats Rice, 11-6…Trailed 6-5 and scored six runs in the sixth.

Coming up

Dallas Baptist at UTSA, a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m.

C-USA standings

Dallas Baptist 20-4, 36-12
UTSA 19-4, 36-12
Charlotte 13-10, 24-23
Louisiana Tech 13-11, 24-25
FAU 12-12, 28-20
Western Kentucky 12-12, 27-21
Middle Tennessee 12-12, 23-23
Rice 7-17, 17-30
UAB 6-18, 15-31
FIU 5-19, 18-29

Notable

UTSA center fielder Shane Sirdashney, a .361 hitter and a standout defensively, is battling a leg injury that has kept him out for most of the last three weeks. Coach Pat Hallmark is hopeful but is uncertain if he’ll have him against Dallas Baptist.

Sirdashney played a few innings in the loss to Sam Houston State last week but wasn’t on the team’s 27-man roster this weekend against Rice. For the season, Sirdashney has 53 hits and has scored 41 runs, so his loss is significant.

“He’s continuing to get treated and has seen a couple of different doctors,” Hallmark said. “It’s a hamstring injury, and hamstrings are tricky. We’re doing well without him. But he’s such a good player, it’d be silly to say we’re fine without him.”

Hallmark said his team has been dealing with a series of injuries to key players over the last three weeks.

“The injuries are worrisome,” he said. “We’ve had ’em for three weeks. Shane and Isaiah (Walker) got the leg issues and (Tye) Odom’s got the back. (Antonio) Valdez is playing hurt. So, in the back of my mind, it’s worrisome, because those are really good players. But we’ve got guys stepping up … I’m proud of the whole team. Guys are doing everything they can to win.”

UTSA comes from behind again to down Rice, 10-8

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Caleb Hill celebrates with Antonio Valdez (3) after they both scored in the seventh inning. UTSA scored four runs in the seventh inning to rally past Rice 9-7 in Conference USA baseball on Friday, May 5, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Caleb Hill had three hits, including a home run, to ignite the UTSA Roadrunners Saturday in a 10-8 victory over the Rice Owls. The junior from Grandview has produced six hits in two victories over the Owls this weekend.- File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special to The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners moved to within a half game of the lead in Conference USA on Saturday, rallying from a couple of five-run deficits in a weather-delayed home game to down the Rice Owls, 10-8.

After a two-hour delay, the Roadrunners returned to the field trailing 5-0 in the top of the second inning. They were also down 6-1 to the Owls before mounting their second comeback of the series.

Caleb Hill, a 6-foot-1 junior from Grandview, ignited uprisings in both the fourth and sixth innings.

He had a two-run single as the Roadrunners scored four in the fourth. Hill hit a solo homer as UTSA added three more in the sixth. After picking up a run in the seventh, the home team led, 9-6, and appeared to be cruising to an easy victory.

But with UTSA relief ace Simon Miller in the game in the eighth, the Owls struck back. He yielded a one-out double and then a two-out, two-run home run by Drew Holderbach, as Rice pulled to within one. The Owls had runners at first and third before the Roadrunners finally got out of it, leading 9-8.

In a rapid response, UTSA slugger Antonio Valdez stroked a triple to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Later, Leyton Barry brought him home with a sacrifice fly, giving the Roadrunners a two-run cushion.

Rice made things interesting again in the top of the ninth against Miller. A two-out single by Manny Garza, the Owls’ second hit of the inning, put runners at first and second base with Pierce Gallo coming up.

Miller didn’t give in, catching Gallo with a called third strike on a breaking pitch to clinch UTSA’s 35th win of the season and their 11th weekend series victory. UTSA won the opener on Friday night, 9-7, after trailing 4-0 in the second inning.

On Saturday afternoon in Dallas, the Roadrunners received a gift. The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders rolled to a 16-8 road victory against the C-USA’s first-place Dallas Baptist Patriots. After UTSA completed its victory over Rice, the Patriots led the C-USA at 19-4, with the Roadrunners at 18-4.

Both Dallas Baptist and UTSA close out their respective series at home on Sunday afternoon. Next week, the Patriots will play three games against the Roadrunners in San Antonio in a series with conference title implications.

From May 18-20, Dallas Baptist will close its regular-season schedule with three home games against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, while UTSA will finish its schedule with three on the road against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

Records

Rice 17-29, 7-16
UTSA 35-12, 18-4

Coming up

Series finale, Rice at UTSA, Sunday, 1 p.m.

C-USA leaders

Dallas Baptist 19-4, 35-12
UTSA 18-4, 35-12
Louisiana Tech 13-10, 24-24
Charlotte 12-10, 23-23
FAU 12-11, 28-19
Middle Tennessee 12-11, 23-22
Western Kentucky 11-12, 26-21
Rice 7-16, 17-29
FIU 5-18, 18-29
UAB 5-18, 14-31

Notable

Caleb Hill is having a monster series against Rice with two three-hit games. He was three for five on Friday and three for four on Saturday. On Friday, he had a double and a triple. On Saturday, Hill added a home run. Going back a few weeks, he is on an eight-game hitting streak. During the streak, he is 16 for 31 for a .516 average.

UTSA’s single-season record of 39 victories is within reach. With eight games remaining, seven of them in conference — all before the conference tournament — the Roadrunners need four wins to tie and five to break the record. UTSA won 39 in both 1994 and 2008.

UTSA averts a second straight loss and rallies to beat Rice

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners felt the sting of their worst loss of the season for two long days before they even showed up to the ball park Friday afternoon to play the Rice Owls.

They aren’t into excuses, and so there weren’t any for what happened Tuesday night against the Sam Houston State Bearkats.

Likewise, they viewed with level heads what was happening in the early innings against Rice at Roadrunner Field. They were getting beat — but only for only for awhile.

Taylor Smith (27) is congratulated at the plate by Antonio Valdez after Smith's home run in the seventh inning. UTSA scored four runs in the seventh inning to rally past Rice 9-7 in Conference USA baseball on Friday, May 5, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Taylor Smith (27) is congratulated at the plate by Antonio Valdez after Smith’s seventh-inning home run. UTSA scored four runs in the seventh to rally past Rice 9-7 in Conference USA baseball. – Photo by Joe Alexander

In the end, the 22nd-ranked Roadrunners pulled it all together, rallied from an early four-run deficit and emerged with a 9-7 victory in the first game of a key three-game series in the Conference USA stretch drive.

“Obviously we got killed on Tuesday,” UTSA catcher Josh Killeen said of the 18-2 loss to the Bearkats. “It wasn’t a good feeling. But the big theme we hold onto as a team is, we believe in each other. We believe each player out there can do the job.

“I think that’s what we went back to. Just believing that the guy at the plate is a really good hitter and the guy on the mound is a really good pitcher, and we got good guys behind the pitchers who can defend. So, it’s just believing in each other and having faith that we are who we are.

“It’s just like, going back to early games during the season where we were really hot and jelling together. It’s just getting back to that kind of baseball and believing in each other.”

For UTSA, Ryan Beaird (4-1) pitched one scoreless inning to earn the victory. He fanned two, including the third out of the seventh with runners stranded at first and third base. All-American candidate Simon Miller, not to be outdone, fired two electrifying innings of shutout ball to earn his 10th save of the season. Retiring six straight, he didn’t allow a baserunner and struck out two. Rice’s Cristian Cienfuegos (2-1) took the loss.

UTSA reliever Ryan Beaird pitched a scoreless seventh inning. UTSA scored four runs in the seventh inning to rally past Rice 9-7 in Conference USA baseball on Friday, May 5, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Reliever Ryan Beaird pitched a scoreless seventh inning and struck out two to earn the victory, which kept the Roadrunners a game and a half behind the first-place Dallas Baptist Patriots in the C-USA title race. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Offensively, multiple Roadrunners did their jobs when it counted. Both Taylor Smith and Antonio Valdez homered, and both Valdez and Caleb Hill had three hits apiece. Matt King produced two hits and three RBIs. For Rice, Jack Riedel had a three-hit game and freshman Ben Royo clubbed a three-run homer.

With the victory, UTSA stayed within a game and a half of the scorching-hot Dallas Baptist Patriots for the lead in the C-USA. In Dallas, the Patriots clobbered the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, 16-5, for their 15th straight conference victory. DBU improved to 19-3, with UTSA, not quite as hot, sitting at 17-4.

Both will finish a series at home this weekend — Rice at UTSA and Middle Tennessee at Dallas Baptist — before the two will meet for three games next week (May 12-14) in San Antonio. After playing a final non-conference game on May 16 at Abilene Christian, UTSA closes out the C-USA regular season with a series on the road (May 18-20) at Louisiana Tech.

UTSA (34-12) needs five wins to tie and six to break the school’s single-season mark for victories in a season.

UTSA reliever Simon Miller and catcher Josh Killeen celebrate after the final out. UTSA scored four runs in the seventh inning to rally past Rice 9-7 in Conference USA baseball on Friday, May 5, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA reliever Simon Miller and catcher Josh Killeen celebrate after the final out. Miller pitched two scoreless innings for his 10th save, lowering his earned run average to 1.06. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Records

Rice 17-28, 7-15
UTSA 34-12, 17-4

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, Saturday, 2 p.m.
Rice at UTSA, Sunday, 1 p.m.

C-USA standings

Dallas Baptist 19-3, 35-11
UTSA 17-4, 34-12
Charlotte 12-9, 23-22
Louisiana Tech 12-10, 23-24
Middle Tennessee 11-11, 22-22
FAU 11-11, 27-19
WKU 10-12, 25-21
Rice 7-15, 17-28
FIU 5-17, 18-27
UAB 5-17, 14-30

Digging out of a hole — twice

Twice on an extremely muggy Friday night in South Texas, UTSA seemed destined for defeat. The Rice Owls jumped all over UTSA starter Luke Malone for three runs in the first inning and then another in the second for a 4-0 lead. In response, the Roadrunners battled back with two in their own half of the second and two more in the third for a 4-4 tie.

Leading into the fifth inning, Malone seemed to have settled down. UTSA’s preseason all-conference pitcher had strung two scoreless innings together. His command was sound and his breaking pitch was hooking into the zone. Just as suddenly, Malone got into trouble in the fifth, allowing two baserunners before Owls freshman Ben Royo stepped to the plate. Royo hammered a ball over the left field wall to give the Owls a 7-4 advantage.

Caleb Hill scores in the seventh inning on a hit by Matt King. UTSA scored four runs in the seventh inning to rally past Rice 9-7 in Conference USA baseball on Friday, May 5, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Caleb Hill scores in the seventh inning on a hit by Matt King. UTSA scored four runs in the seventh inning. Hill collected three hits, scored twice and had an RBI. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“There’s nothing to fault Luke for,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said. “You know, these other teams, the way we describe it, they practice hitting and they can hit. Luke’s always been a competitive overachiever. So, you’ve got to give the other team a little credit. I’m proud of (Luke) for sticking it out, really … He’s such a competitive kid. It’s wonderful to have him.”

It’s also a good thing to have veteran hitters who can turn it up a notch when adversity strikes. With Rice starter Parker Smith out of the game, the Roadrunners went to work against the Owls’ bullpen. In the seventh inning, they broke through with four runs on five hits. The big blows were a leadoff homer by Taylor Smith and a two-run single by Matt King against Justin Long.

In came Cristian Cienfuegos, who unraveled in short order, allowing Roadrunners to reach base twice on hit by pitches, sandwiched around a single by Josh Killeen. It all set the bases-loaded table for Isaiah Walker, who drew a walk on six pitches to force in the go-ahead run. UTSA’s 8-7 lead was its first of the day.

“We got some good hitters, some grown-up hitters,” Hallmark said. “We had some really, really tough at bats, where they take pitches that normally would get people out. But we take ’em and lay off tough pitches. That gets overlooked if you’re not a baseball person. You have to lay off the tough pitches and put yourself in a position to do damage.”

Antonio Valdez did just that in the eighth inning. The switch hitter, batting from the left side against Rice righthander Matthew Linskey, took the first pitch for a ball. fouled one off. Took another ball. Fouled off another pitch. Then on a fastball down the middle, he uncorked a big swing that resulted in a loud ringing sound, with the ball re-directed high and far toward the left field wall. It went out for a majestic, one-out solo homer and a 9-7 lead.

Conference title-race crunch time: UTSA hosts Rice tonight

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Simon Miller. UTSA beat Marshall 5-4 on Sunday, May 8, 2022, at Roadrunner Field. - photo by Joe Alexander

The UTSA Roadrunners are 33-12 for the season and 19-2 in games that relief ace Simon Miller pitches. Consequently, Miller is likely to be on the mound some time tonight in the opener of a three-game, Conference USA series against the Rice Owls. — File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Three days after suffering their most lopsided loss of the season, the 22nd-ranked UTSA Roadrunners will return to Conference USA play tonight as they host the Rice Owls in the opener of a three-game series. First pitch is at 6 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.

UTSA yielded 18 hits, including five home runs, in an 18-2 loss at home Tuesday night to the Sam Houston Houston State Bearkats.

With 10 games left in the regular season, a series of bounce-back performances against Rice this weekend might be considered crucial to the team’s long-term goals of a C-USA title and an NCAA tournament bid.

All C-USA teams have nine conference games remaining over the next three weekends, with the conference tournament looming May 24-28 in Houston. The front-runners in the chase are the Dallas Baptist Patriots (18-3), the Roadrunners (16-4) and the Charlotte 49ers (12-8).

This weekend, Dallas Baptist, UTSA and Charlotte are all playing at home. The Patriots face a test from the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, while the Roadrunners take on the Owls in a series for the second time this season, and the 49ers meet FAU.

Earlier this season, the Roadrunners won two of three in a closely-contested series against Rice at Houston.

Parker Smith, the Owls’ Friday night starter, plus relief pitchers Matthew Linskey and Krishna Raj, all had productive outings in the series played at Reckling Park.

UTSA won the opener, 4-3 in 11 innings. Rice bounced back to claim a 13-8 decision in the second game and then UTSA rebounded to take the finale, 6-5.

Offensively for Rice, Guy Garibay homered in each of the first two games. Drew Holderbach, Manny Garza and Ben Royo all had multi-hit performances in Game Two. In the third game, the Owls bashed three more home runs, including one each by Aaron Smigelski, Royo and Connor Walsh.

The difference in the series for UTSA stemmed from solid performances in the opener by pitchers Luke Malone and Simon Miller, who combined to shut down the Owls for 10 and 1/3 innings. Also, in the series finale, UTSA’s bullpen work from Ruger Riojas, Fischer Kingsbery and Daniel Shafer was crucial.

In addition, Antonio Valdez produced three hits and three RBIs over the weekend and pounded home runs in both victories. Also in the three games, Josh Killeen had six hits and Sammy Valdez three, with three runs scored. Diaz homered and had two RBIs in the finale.

The Roadrunners haven’t played as well lately as they have for most of the season. They’re 6-4 in their last 10 games, and they had to scramble to secure wins over Houston Christian and UAB in that stretch.

Roadrunners having success at the plate lately include Caleb Hill (.454 over his last six games), Taylor Smith (.413 in his last eight) and Leyton Barry (.395 in his last 12). On the mound, Miller has been dynamic. The 6-foot-2 junior righthander from Canton hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last four appearances. Also in that span, he has struck out eight batters in seven innings.

Miller is a potential All-America candidate with a season record of 7-0, 10 saves and a 1.10 ERA. Moreover, the Roadrunners are 19-2 when he pitches. UTSA is also 9-3 when Malone pitches in a game. Lately, though, the senior righty from Round Rock has struggled a bit, allowing nine earned runs in 12 and 2/3 innings over his last two starts. Malone, the team’s Friday night starter, is 6-3 with a 3.13 ERA for the season.

Records

UTSA 33-12, 16-4
Rice 17-27, 7-14

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, Friday, 6 p.m.
Rice at UTSA, Saturday, 2 p.m.
Rice at UTSA, Sunday, 1 p.m.

Notable

UTSA took a significant tumble in the NCAA’s ratings percentage index this week. Before the lopsided loss to Sam Houston, the team’s RPI was at No. 47. It fell in the days afterward, and by Friday morning, it was at No. 57.

An RPI in the 30s going into NCAA tournament selection day is considered crucial for programs vying for at-large berths into the 64-team national field. After losing in the C-USA finals last season, UTSA was 37th going into selection day and didn’t receive a bid.

Given the history, RPI is a statistic to watch in the coming weeks. Going into Friday night, Dallas Baptist has the top RPI in the conference at No. 19, and UTSA is second. FAU is next at 67, followed by Charlotte (74), Louisiana Tech (127) and Rice (145) Bringing up the rear, Middle Tennessee is 170, followed by Western Kentucky (174), UAB (179) and FIU (208).

UTSA plays three games at home next week against C-USA leading Dallas Baptist (May 12-14). After a non-conference game at Abilene Christian the following week (on May 16), UTSA finishes its conference schedule with three on the road at Louisiana Tech. The LA Tech series (May 18-20) is scheduled to start on a Thursday and run through Saturday.