By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The UTSA Roadrunners didn’t flinch after they dropped back-to-back games in walk-off fashion earlier this week.
Caden Miller had a big day on Saturday in Houston with three hits and five RBIs. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Seemingly, they just reverted to the basics of the game, the fundamentals that have under-girded their rise as one of the best mid-major programs in the nation.
The Roadrunners rolled past the Rice Owls 13-0 Saturday afternoon in Houston to claim a second straight win via shutout and their 14th straight series victory in American Conference play.
Officials called it after seven innings on the run rule.
After losing 13-11 at Incarnate Word on Tuesday afternoon and 3-2 in 10 innings to open the road series at Rice on Thursday night, UTSA rebounded with two wins in two days in dominating fashion.
First, they followed the lead of starting pitcher Conor Myles to an 8-0 victory on Friday.
Next, they surged in the series finale with another strong pitching performance, this one backed by a 14-hit attack.
Leading 2-0 after four innings, the Roadrunners erupted for five runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to quiet an Easter weekend crowd at Reckling Park.
Home runs by UTSA’s Christian Hallmark and Drew Detlefsen highlighted a fifth-inning uprising that included some sloppy play by the home team.
An error, two walks and two wild pitches by the Owls allowed the Roadrunners to break away. Detlefsen’s 11th homer of the season capped the outburst and made it 7-0.
Caden Miller added two-run singles in the sixth and the seventh innings for the Roadrunners.
For the game, the left-side, swinging sophomore from Madisonville had three hits and five RBIs.
Detlefsen and Hallmark also had three-hit performances. It was only the second three-hit day of the season for Hallmark, a sophomore transfer out of Navarro College.
In Detlefsen’s case, he also produced three RBI, giving him a team-leading 39 in 31 games.
Freshman pitcher Christopher Gutierrez (1-0) earned the first victory of his college career after a season-high two and a third innings of relief.
Christian Okerholm started the game, followed by Gutierrez and Kendall Dove. Combined, the threesome held the Owls to only two hits, while walking four and striking out three.
Gutierrez is a lefty from Houston-area Spring and Ridgeland High School, who has been used mostly in a situational role to this point.
Entering the game with no outs and a runner on first base in the third, he pitched well into the fifth, allowing no runs on two hits and two walks, while striking out two.
Rice freshman Ty Thames (2-2) took the loss.
The big righthander from Wimberley worked three and a third innings. He allowed seven runs on five hits, though four of the runs were unearned.
Records
UTSA 22-10, 6-3
Rice 19-14, 4-5
Coming up
UTSA at Tarleton State, Tuesday, 4 p.m.
South Florida at UTSA, Friday, 6 p.m.
South Florida at UTSA, Saturday, April 11, 2 p.m.
South Florida at UTSA, Sunday, April 12, 1 p.m.
Notable
UTSA recorded back-to-back shutout victories for the first time since it blanked Long Island, 13-0 and 15-0, both at home and in seven innings, on Feb. 22 and 23 in 2025.
The Roadrunners’ defense played error-free baseball for 26 straight innings at Rice, including 10 on Thursday, nine on Friday and seven on Saturday.
Miller and Detlefsen also had big weekends. Miller had eight hits in 13 at bats in the three games, pushing his batting average to .396 for the season.
Detlefsen’s average spiked to a team-leading .409 after he went six for 14.
UTSA freshman Aidan Eshelman started all three games at shortstop in the Rice series.
Blessed with a strong arm, he played solid defense this weekend and contributed offensively in the finale, scoring four runs.
UTSA’s first-year player from Houston Episcopal High School went two for three and drove in one in Game 3.