UTSA women rout Sam Houston State, 79-36, for their seventh straight win

UTSA women's basketball beat Sam Houston State 79-36 on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

The UTSA Roadrunners celebrate a winning play Saturday near the end of a 43-point victory over the Sam Houston State Bearkats. UTSA held Sam Houston to 21 percent shooting from the field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

In a women’s college basketball game held as a salute to educators, the UTSA Roadrunners on Saturday afternoon administered a two-hour tutorial in pressure defense, dismantling the Sam Houston State Bearkats 79-36 at the Convocation Center for their seventh straight victory.

The Roadrunners controlled the action from the outset and then delivered a crushing blow in the second half, outscoring the visitors 41-17 in front of an announced 837 fans.

So much for the idea that UTSA’s travel back from Puerto Rico last Sunday and a week-long layoff would have an effect on the team’s performance.

Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA women's basketball beat Sam Houston State 79-36 on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins, taking it to the basket against Sam Houston, finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“As a coach, I’ll nit-pick a little bit about certain things,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. ” … We came back from Puerto Rico and I thought we had a little bit of a lag … recovering from it. And then with finals coming up, I think it was a tough week for us, practice-wise. But, again, (I’m) proud of how we started and finished (the game).”

Forward Jordyn Jenkins finished with a 22-point, 10-rebound double double for UTSA.

Idara Udo, on her birthday, produced a season-high 15 points and also eight boards as her teammates won the rebounding battle, 53-27. From the UTSA backcourt, Sidney Love scored 10 points on four of seven shooting and Nina De Leon Negron passed for eight assists.

Junior forward Cheyenne Rowe delivered off the bench, scoring eight points on four of four shooting. Rowe also contributed with six rebounds in 16 minutes.

As a team, UTSA limited Sam Houston to 21.6 percent shooting from the field. While the UTSA defensive effort produced an opponent season low in points, the team played well offensively, as well, running up a point total that represented a season high.

The Roadrunners shot 48 percent from the field as they won their second game in a row by more than 30 points, the first time that has happened in 28 years.

UTSA’s winning streak seems to have developed two phases to it. In the first three games, the Roadrunners’ offense clicked with scores in the 70s and also with high shooting percentages from the field and from the 3-point arc. But in those games, opponents also shot the ball well against them.

When they returned to San Antonio from a two-game road swing to New Mexico State and UTEP, the team’s approach to defense changed a bit, with eye-opening results for the Roadrunners. They have since held their last four opponents to an average of 43 points per game, allowing only 29.7 percent shooting from the field.

Asked what has changed with UTSA’s defense over the last four outings, Aston said, “I honestly think we just re-assessed. When we came back from UTEP, our defense was maybe a little bit too scout-based, up until that point. The coaching staff looked at that and said, ‘Ok, what’s going on here?’

“We sort of just went back to fundamentals and basics, and I think it’s paid off in a sense that, having as many young players as we do, maybe not making them think quite so much about personnel and what the play is, and all that, and just getting back to the basics and concepts.”

Idara Udo. UTSA women's basketball beat Sam Houston State 79-36 on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA center Idara Udo celebrated her birthday by producing a season-high 15 points and eight rebounds. She also won the team’s ‘Cash In’ award for the game. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Early on in Saturday’s matinee, both Sam Houston and UTSA were pressing and trapping aggressively While the Roadrunners weathered the storm of pressure, the Bearkats eventually broke down against their bigger and stronger opponent. In the end, the Roadrunners outscored the visitors 26-10 on points off turnovers.

Jenkins, a power forward, was deployed to trap in the backcourt and came up with three of UTSA’s eight steals on the day.

“I think our press is getting better,” Aston said. “I think there are some things that are getting much better. But we need to take some really big steps … in the next couple of weeks. I mean, I know we have a lot of games. After we get through with finals week (next week) we have three games … in six days.

“But, to be honest, I’m more worried about what we’re doing in the next two weeks … to prepare for conference play. Whatever happens in these (next) three games (at Stanford, at home against UT Arlington and at Texas State) it just happens, because our focus needs to be on preparation for Dec. 29.”

UTSA opens play in the American Athletic Conference at Charlotte on Dec. 29.

Records

Sam Houston State 5-3
UTSA 7-1

Coming up

UTSA at Stanford, Monday, Dec. 16, 2 p.m.

First quarter

With both teams pressing and trapping, the period ended when the Roadrunners produced a 9-0 run in the final 2:20 for a 23-11 lead. Cheyenne Rowe and Maya Linton led the Roadrunners with six points apiece. Linton hit a three with 23 seconds left for the final bucket. Whitney Dunn scored nine in the period for the Bearkats. UTSA forced eight Sam Houston turnovers, while Sam Houston forced six by the home team.

Nina De Leon Negron. UTSA women's basketball beat Sam Houston State 79-36 on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Point guard Nina De Leon Negron continued her strong play by running a fast-break attack and dishing out eight assists – Photo by Joe Alexander

Second quarter

After going scoreless for nearly five minutes, the Roadrunners finished strong, scoring nine points in the final 2:12 of the half. De Leon Negron had a couple of assists and ran for a twisting reverse layup in the last few minutes. Two 3-pointers by Dunn in the last minute kept the Bearkats close.

First half

Pressing and trapping, the UTSA Roadrunners forced 13 turnovers and turned them into 18 points as they opened a 38-23 lead on the Sam Houston State Bearkats. UTSA, playing aggressively, also outrebounded Sam Houston 25-9 and pulled down 13 boards off the offensive glass. Jordyn Jenkins finished the half with 11 points and Idara Udo had seven. Nina De Leon Negron, running the team at point guard, had five assists. Whitney Dunn had 16 points at intermission for Sam Houston.

Third quarter

UTSA’s defense was at its best after intermission, holding Sam Houston to one of 13 shooting and seven points. Playing as many as three freshmen at the end of the period, the Roadrunners outscored the Bearkats and took a 52-30 lead into the fourth.

Notable

The Roadrunners keep setting new standards for team success. Their program-best national NET ranking of 69th as of Saturday morning is destined to improve after another lopsided win. Moreover, their 7-1 start now ranks second only to an 11-1 in 1985-86.

Additionally, they have won two games in a row by more than 30 points each for the first time since 1996-97. UTSA downed Towson, 71-40, last Friday in Puerto Rico. Their 43-point margin of victory over Sam Houston was the largest since an 86-33 victory over Nicholls State on Jan. 14, 2008.

Jordyn Jenkins surpassed the 1,500-point mark in her college basketball career. She entered the day with 1,484 points over two seasons at USC and two-plus at UTSA. She now has 1,506 points in 93 games. UTSA center Idara Udo won the team’s “Cash In” award on her birthday.

UTSA played without 6-foot-4 redshirt senior forward Nyayongah Gony and junior guard Siena Guttadauro. Gony has an injury and sat out a game for the first time this season. Guttadauro won’t play again this season as she steps away for personal reasons. Guttadauro, who made the announcement Friday, has indicated she plans to return to the team for 2025-26, according to an athletics department release.

The California native had a solid summer and started the fall in UTSA’s point guard rotation behind Nina De Leon Negron and Sidney Love.

Kyleigh McGuire, a reserve forward on last year’s UTSA team that reached the WNIT, started for Sam Houston State. She finished with four points, five rebounds and two blocks. Forward Whitney Dunn finished as high scorer for the Bearkats with 16 points. She was held scoreless in the second half.

Sidney Love. UTSA women's basketball beat Sam Houston State 79-36 on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA junior Sidney Love had 10 points on four of seven shooting from the field. Love also had five assists against only two turnovers. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Rowe says UTSA’s focus has been on defense, defense and … defense

Cheyenne Rowe. The UTSA women's basketball team beat St. Mary's 90-38 in an exhibition game on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Junior forward Cheyenne Rowe elevated her game in Puerto Rico last week, averaging nine points and four rebounds in wins over UNC Greensboro and Towson. UTSA hosts Sam Houston State Saturday at 1 p.m. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For the surging UTSA women’s basketball team, one of the most important storylines to emerge from last week’s sweep of two games in Puerto Rico centered on the team’s high level of performance on the defensive end.

But as the Roadrunners returned to San Antonio and then started preparations for Saturday’s home game against the Sam Houston State Bearkats, the focus in practice didn’t seem to change. Not a bit.

Asked about the coaches’ points of emphasis this past week, reserve forward Cheyenne Rowe said succinctly:

“Team defense, team defense and team defense,” she said, smiling

It’s that simple, apparently. The goal is to cut off the Bearkats, who apparently have players who like to drive the ball.

Today, UTSA will be all about “making the court look small,” Rowe said. “Playing defense as a team. Helping each other out (and) being in help defense.

“Because there are so many drivers,” she said, “we have to be there for each other, and when we do that, we can get into good rebounding position.”

Sam Houston (5-2) and UTSA (6-1) will tip off at 1 p.m. in the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners have won six in a row, including a string of three straight wins when they have held opponents to an average of 45.3 points.

During that streak, UTSA has limited opponents to 32.6 percent shooting, including only 25.8 percent from the 3-point line.

After UTSA knocked off Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 62-43, on Nov. 20 in San Antonio, the team journeyed to Puerto Rico and walloped UNC Greensboro, 62-53, and Towson, 71-40, last Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Rowe said coaches didn’t let up in their drive to preach defense leading into this week’s one and only game against Sam Houston.

“Just because you’re doing good at something, doesn’t mean you stop working on it,” Rowe said. “So, that’s what we’re doing.”

With two relatively comfortable victories last week, another storyline emerged, with Head Coach Karen Aston going to the bench freely to play her reserve players.

The maneuver seemed to benefit Rowe, in particular, who produced eight points and five rebounds in 10 minutes against Greensboro and a career-high 10 points and three rebounds in 16 minutes against Towson.

In the two games combined, the 6-foot-2 junior from Ajax, Ontario in Canada hit eight of 14 shots from the field.

“One way to describe her compared to last year is that she’s comfortable with the system, the expectations and how we do things,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “She’s very comfortable, which enables her to play a little more (freely) and not worry about mistakes.

Continued Aston: “She’s in better shape. She’s spent a lot of time in the gym. Shoots a lot. She spent a lot of time this summer working on her game, and I think it’s just now starting to translate into games.”

UTSA has a talented frontcourt with Jordyn Jenkins headlining the group.

Jenkins, a high-scoring power forward, starts on the front line along with center Idara Udo. Backing up are Nyayongah Gony and Rowe, a second-year Roadrunner who started her college career with one season at James Madison.

Waiting in the wings is 6-foot-5 freshman Emilia Dannebauer.

After the team’s first four games, Rowe’s production was down, as her playing time fluctuated between seven and 14 minutes.

Staying on the floor was a challenge.

“I honestly don’t know what was going on,” she said. “It was just the nerves, probably. And then, now that I’m used to everything, my body’s used to it, game-time speed. Everything’s falling into place now, I think.”

Rowe’s talents range far beyond the basketball court.

In the classroom, she is one of the team’s brightest students, taking a double major in psychology and Japanese as a member of the UTSA honors college program.

While Rowe is fluent in Japanese, she also plays piano. Additionally, one of her long-range goals with the psychology major is to work for NASA one day.

A group on campus introduced her to the idea about a year ago.

“That’s when I realized that being a psychologist at NASA was a thing,” she said, “and I really love space and everything astro-physics, so I figured that would be a good combination of my two passions.”

Rowe is optimistic about the team’s continued success.

“Winning is always a really good feeling,” she said. “I think our team has realized where we’re at right now and I think we’re prepared to get in the gym and work harder, focus on what we need to improve on. Focus on our weaknesses and get better from there.”

Records

Sam Houston State (5-2)
UTSA (6-1)

Coming up

Sam Houston State at UTSA, 1 p.m.
UTSA at Stanford, Monday, Dec. 16, 2 p.m.

UTSA coach Karen Aston shrugs off ranking, saying, ‘We got a long way to go’

Update: UTSA guard Siena Guttadauro announced through an athletics spokesman on Friday that she will be stepping away from basketball for the remainder of the 2024-25 season for personal reasons. Guttadauro is planning to return for the 2025-26 season, according to the statement.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

In the wake of a six-game winning streak, the UTSA women’s basketball team landed at No. 57 nationally in the NCAA’s NET rankings earlier this week. The Roadrunners were 64th on Thursday when they took the floor for an afternoon workout at the Convocation Center.

Without data to know for sure, it’s likely the highest ranking for the UTSA women since the NET came into play in women’s basketball in 2020-21, when officials started to use it to help evaluate teams for selection and seeding in the NCAA tournament.

Regardless, UTSA is at least momentarily the highest NET-ranked team in The American Athletic Conference as it prepares to play a non-conference home game on Saturday against Sam Houston State.

Without placing too much emphasis on their top-64 stature in the first week of the metric’s publication, Roadrunners coach Karen Aston said it’s good to know her players and her program have been noticed.

“Anytime you’re in a better position than you’ve been in the past, it’s a good feeling,” she said. “Obviously you don’t put a lot of weight into it right now. But, I’m proud of where we are. No question, we have not been in that spot since I’ve been here, for sure.

“So, I’m proud of ’em and would like to see ’em get better.”

After UTSA, Tulane came in at No. 90, with South Florida at 99 and Temple 100 as the highest-ranked teams in the American, according to the rankings as they were published on Thursday morning.

“Yeah, it’s good to know that we’re in that position, but we also understand we got a long way to go,” Aston said. “You know, things happen, and you got to keep getting better. There’s a lot for us to (improve on) but we understand that.”

Part of the challenge this week centered on the team’s travel schedule. After traveling to Puerto Rico and beating North Carolina Greensboro and Towson last week, the Roadrunners returned home Sunday and faced a daunting challenge with their academic regimen.

Preparing for final exams scheduled next week is only part of the challenge for the Roadrunners.

“A lot of players, a lot of students in general, don’t really have a lot of finals anymore,” Aston said. “A lot of times, it’s really the week prior to finals that is really hard, because they have to turn in a lot of stuff, a lot of papers.

“Sometimes their last exam is this week instead of finals week. I’ve discovered that this is actually a harder week than finals week.”

Consequently, the players’ attention to detail at practice this week has been “up and down,” the coach acknowledged.

“Coming off the long road trip and having the week off, you’re anxious and maybe a little leery of them letting their guard down and losing an edge that they had before,” the coach said. “But, I mean, it is what it is. They’ll learn some lessons if they don’t have one on Saturday.”

Soon after Sam Houston State (5-2) beat McMurry 74-53 on Thursday, Aston gathered her Roadrunners (6-1) before practice started and told them about the Bearkats’ guard tandem of Kaila Kelley and Fanta Kone. Kelley scored 21 points in the win and Kone had 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

As a team, the Bearkats forced 30 turnovers against the War Hawks.

“They’re relentless,” Aston said. “They really pressure the ball. They play hard. They’re scrappy and real intentional at ball pressure. The live off of transition and turnovers, so it’ll be a challenge.”

Notable

After almost a year of analysis, the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee decided the time was right for full implementation of NET for 2020-21, with ratings percentage index (RPI) no longer being used.

RPI was created in 1981 to provide supplemental data for the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee in its evaluation of teams for at-large selection and seeding of the championship bracket. The Division I Women’s Basketball Committee began using RPI in 1984.

UTSA women show signs of maturity after winning on back-to-back days in Puerto Rico

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

A day after jetting back to San Antonio from a holiday tournament in Puerto Rico, the UTSA women’s basketball team returned to work on Monday with wind behind its sails, so to speak.

The Roadrunners swept two games at the Puerto Rico Clasico in San Juan, improving their record to a 6-1 on the season and extending their winning streak to six games.

Coach Karen Aston thanked the UTSA administration for allowing her program to make the trip.

“It was an experience for everyone — the staff, student-athletes,” she said. “We have a lot of people, including myself, who’ve never been to Puerto Rico. It was a great, great atmosphere. Tournament was well done.”

The Roadrunners made the most of their trip by notching victories over the UNC Greensboro Warriors and the Towson Tigers.

After dispatching a once-beaten Greensboro team 62-53 on Thursday morning, UTSA walloped winless Towson 71-40 on Friday, the second day of a back-to-back.

“I thought our team played with a good amount of energy,” Aston said. “It was kind of a long trip, so I was curious to see how we would handle back to back games, with Towson not having played the day before, like we did. I thought our team handled it really well, a sign of a different level of maturity.

“I thought we played good in spurts and definitely had some things that we can get back this week and work on.”

Coming up

Sam Houston State at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Notable

Upon release of the NCAA’s NET rankings on Monday, the first release of the season, the UTSA women were ranked No. 57 out of 362 Division I programs, the highest of any team in the American Athletic Conference.

Tulane was 90th, followed by South Florida (99) and Temple (100) among the highest-ranked teams in The American.

Only four other teams in the state were ranked higher than UTSA, with Texas listed third, TCU fifth, Baylor 26th and Stephen F. Austin 48th.

The NET rankings were initiated for the 2018-19 season to replace the RPI.

UTSA women improve to 4-2 after rallying past Sam Houston State

Guard Kyra White scored 11 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter as the UTSA women rallied from an 11-point deficit to down the Sam Houston State Bearkats, 63-56, Saturday afternoon in Huntsville.

With UTSA trailing for most of the game and by a 44-33 margin after three quarters, White and Sidney Love went to work.

In the fourth period, White hit all four of her field goal attempts and all three shots from the free-throw line, while backcourt mate Sidney Love hit five of six from the line to highlight a seven-point outburst. Love finished the game with 12.

Elyssa Coleman led the Roadrunners with 17 points and six rebounds.

Guard Sydnee Kemp had 14 points and Raanee Smith 13 for the Bearkats. Kemp had five of her points, including a three, in an 8-0 run to the end of the third quarter.

Records

UTSA 4-2
Sam Houston State 3-2

Coming up

Texas State at UTSA, Thursday, 5 p.m.

Surprising UTSA women set to play their fifth road game of the young season

Elyssa Coleman. UTSA beat Rice 66-53 in Conference USA women's basketball on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Junior Elyssa Coleman will lead the UTSA Roadrunners into today’s road game at Sam Houston State. — File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special to The JB Replay

A women’s college basketball odyssey of sorts is scheduled to come to an end today in Huntsville.

The UTSA Roadrunners are set to complete a season-opening stretch of six games — with five of them on the road — in Huntsville against the Sam Houston State Bearkats.

UTSA (3-2) and Sam Houston State (3-1) are set to tip off at 4 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum. The Roadrunners, 1-0 at home and 2-2 on the road so far, have fared surprisingly well leading into their 20th day of the regular season.

If they can play well and perhaps catch a few breaks against the Bearkats, they could return to San Antonio today two games over .500. At worst, they will have broken even.

Regardless of what happens today, it’s a good sign for a team to be in such a position near the end of the first month of any season, let alone one in which it is playing without its best player.

Jordyn Jenkins, rehabilitating a knee injury, hasn’t been in the lineup yet. Players such as Sidney Love, Kyra White, Elyssa Coleman, Maya Linton and freshman Aysia Proctor have stepped up, leading the first-year program in the American Athletic Conference to a home victory over New Mexico State, along with road wins at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UT Arlington.

In their last outing, on Monday in Lubbock, the Roadrunners played well but dropped a 63-58 decision in Big 12 country against the Texas Tech Lady Raiders.

Against Sam Houston, they’ll hardly be lacking in confidence, though they will need to take care of the ball. After turning it over 31 times at Texas Tech, they’ll play a team that ranks among the nation’s best at creating turnovers. The Bearkats force 26.8 opponent miscues per game.

Sam Houston is making the transition this season into Conference USA. It lost only to Houston and recently claimed a 66-62 victory on the road against Texas State.

Records

UTSA 3-2
Sam Houston State 3-1

Coming up

Texas State at UTSA, Thursday, 5 p.m.

Texas Tech, TCU and Texas A&M to play for regional titles today

One team from the state of Texas has advanced to the Super Regional round and three others remain in the hunt leading into Monday’s games in the NCAA baseball tournament.

Here are the details:

Gainesville Regional — Texas Tech (2-1 in the regional) plays host Florida (3-1) at 11 a.m. in the championship game. How did Tech get here? Florida beat Tech 7-1 Saturday night to force a deciding game. What’s next? The winner will move on to the Super Regional round against South Carolina.

Fayetteville Regional — Undefeated TCU (2-0 in the regional) and Arkansas (2-1) play at 2 p.m. in the finals. Another game will follow at 8 p.m., if necessary. TCU needs to win one game to claim the title. Arkansas needs to win twice. How did TCU get here? The Frogs beat the Razorbacks 20-5 Saturday to remain undefeated. Later, Razorbacks beat Santa Clara 6-4 to reach the finals. What’s next? The winner will advance to the Super Regional round against Indiana State.

Stanford Regional — Texas A&M (2-1 in the regional) and host Stanford (3-1) play at 8 p.m. in the championship game. How did A&M get here? Stanford downed the Aggies 13-5 Saturday night to force a deciding game. What’s next? The winner will play the Texas Longhorns in the Super Regional round.

Notable

The Longhorns completed a 3-0 sweep to the Coral Gables Regional title Saturday afternoon when they downed the Miami Hurricanes, 10-6. Texas has advanced to the Super Regionals. Both the Dallas Baptist Patriots and Sam Houston State Bearkats were eliminated Saturday night. Oral Roberts won the Stillwater Regional title with a 6-5 victory over Dallas Baptist (2-2) in the finals. Oregon State downed Sam Houston State (1-2) in an elimination game at the Baton Rouge Regional.

Eye on S.A.-area talent

Dominic Tamez, a junior at Alabama from San Antonio’s Johnson High School, produced two hits, two runs scored and an RBI on Sunday night as the Crimson Tide shut out Boston College 8-0 to win the Tuscaloosa Regional. Tamez also had two hits and two RBIs in an 11-8 victory over Troy on Saturday night. By winning the Tuscaloosa Regional, Alabama will advance to face national No. 1 seeded Wake Forest in the Super Regional round.

Eye on teams from Texas

Texas: 41-20
Texas Tech: 41-22
TCU: 39-22
Texas A&M: 38-26
Dallas Baptist: 47-16
Sam Houston State: 39-25

Sam Houston State downs Tulane, stays alive in the Baton Rouge Regional

By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay

Finishing a game that started on Saturday, the Sam Houston State Bearkats remained in the hunt in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional on Sunday, eliminating the Tulane Green Wave from the tournament, 10-2.

Sam Houston led 7-2 with two out in the top of the seventh on Saturday afternoon when play was suspended because of weather issues. Tulane had the bases loaded when players were waved off the field. In the re-start that commenced at noon on Sunday, pitcher Logan Hewitt shut down the threat, coaxing Tulane into an inning-ending ground ball.

In the bottom of the eighth, Bearkats’ slugger Josh Wishkoski put the game out of reach with a three-run homer to center field.

The Bearkats, now 1-1 in the tournament, will face either LSU or Oregon State Sunday night at 8 p.m. The loser is eliminated, while the winner will advance to the finals.

Schedule updates: Sam Houston State-Tulane to resume play at noon Sunday

Inclement weather on Saturday forced officials to reschedule games in both the Baton Rouge and Fayetteville regionals.

Lightning in the Baton Rouge area caused the Tulane-Sam Houston elimination game to be suspended. The game will re-start at noon Sunday in the top of the seventh inning with Sam Houston holding a 7-2 lead.

It’s an early elimination game in the bracket, with both teams 0-1 in the regional. The LSU-Oregon State winners bracket game, with both teams 1-0, has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. LSU is the national No. 5 seed.

In Fayetteville, officials have rescheduled the TCU Horned Frogs and the national No. 3-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks to play at 2 p.m. Sunday in a winners bracket game.

Both TCU and Arkansas are 1-0 in the four-team regional and are hoping to move ahead in the double-elimination format unscathed.

The winner will advance to Monday’s regional title round. The loser will play Santa Clara at 8 p.m. on Sunday night. On Saturday, regional No. 4-seeded Santa Clara ousted Arizona, 9-3.

Sam Houston State hits five home runs and routs UTSA, 18-2

Sam Houston State starting pitcher Marshall Wales. Sam Houston State beat UTSA 18-2 in non-conference baseball on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Sam Houston State starting pitcher Marshall Wales worked six innings and allowed two runs, one of them earned, to earn the victory on the home field of the 22nd-ranked UTSA Roadrunners.- Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The Sam Houston State Bearkats entered Tuesday night’s game in San Antonio with victories this season over Iowa, Kansas State, Illinois, Houston and Texas A&M.

The Bearkats added to their list of non-conference conquests, slamming five home runs in an 18-2 victory over 22nd-ranked UTSA at Roadrunner Field.

Isaiah Walker. Sam Houston State beat UTSA 18-2 in non-conference baseball on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA right fielder Isaiah Walker camps out under a fly ball Tuesday night at Roadrunner Field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Backing a strong starting pitching effort from lefthander Marshall Wales, the Bearkats finished with 18 hits.

Justin Wishkoski ripped two of the home runs, while Clayton Chadwick, Carlos Contreras and Easton Loyd added one apiece.

Chadwick barreled a three-run homer to the opposite field in left to highlight a four-run first inning for the visiting team. In the top of the third, Contreras pulled one to right for a two-run blast during a five-run outburst.

When the dust cleared, the Bearkats had a 9-2 lead.

“You know, we got off to a good start, and I think that’s the whole key,” Sam Houston State coach Jay Sirianni said. “These guys (at UTSA) are really good. They’ve had a great year. (But) when you score early, it gives you a little bit of confidence, and you can add on to it.

“I thought Marshall Wales did a good job for us in hanging the first zero and then gave up the two in the second, but after that, he was pretty good. (He) continued to throw strikes, and that’s the whole key on a Tuesday night.”

Matt King. Sam Houston State beat UTSA 18-2 in non-conference baseball on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA shortstop Matt King makes a play and fires to first base . – Photo by Joe Alexander

Wales (2-4) gave up seven hits and two runs, only one of them earned, in six innings of work. He struck out two, did not walk anyone and lowered his earned run average to 5.29.

“It’s a great opportunity to go on the road and show who we are as a team,” Wales said. “Obviously, getting toward the later part of the season, you know, it’s all hands on deck. (It’s) who can step up and throw and who can complete the job.

“We knew they were a good squad. We knew we had to play good, and we did. It’s a test on the road. You know, long drive, get off the bus and go out and compete. It was really a good vibe before the game with the guys.

“Really loose, I think we were playing really loose as a team. Really, just playing as a team.”

Records

Sam Houston State 28-18
UTSA 33-12

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, three Conference USA games, Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

Notable

Sam Houston State set a UTSA opponent season high with 18 runs. Sam Houston also tied a UTSA opponent season high with 18 hits. The Bearkats’ 16-run margin of victory was also the most against the Roadrunners this year. Previously, UTSA’s widest margin of defeat was six runs in an 8-2 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 28.