By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
After dropping a heartbreaker to nationally-ranked Texas and then losing a series in the American Conference at Memphis, the UTSA Roadrunners have returned home to the Alamo City, trying to forget about it all and focus on the future.
The Roadrunners’ future is now as they prepare to play their non-conference finale at home today against the regional rival Texas State Bobcats, followed by three at home against the UAB Blazers on Thursday through Saturday to close out their American Conference regular-season schedule.
“Losing three games in a week is disappointing,” UTSA third baseman Diego Diaz said, “but I think by now, we should all be moving past it and just looking forward to the next game. Just the next pitch, the next at bat, whatever it is. Just looking forward to the next win.”
Records
Texas State 31-21
UTSA 34-17
Coming up
Texas State at UTSA, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
UAB at UTSA, Thursday, 6 p.m.
UAB at UTSA, Friday, 6 p.m.
UAB at UTSA, Saturday, 11 a.m.
American Conference tournament, at Clearwater, Fla., May 20-24
Notable
The Bobcats have won four in a row and have surged into the conversation as an NCAA tournament candidate out of the Sun Belt Conference.
Last week, Texas State won a home game at Baylor and then went on the road to win three straight Sun Belt games at Arkansas State.
With the victories, the Bobcats moved up to No. 43 in the latest ratings percentage index, ahead of the Roadrunners at No. 50.
In the Sun Belt, Coastal Carolina and Southern Mississippi are regarded by Baseball America magazine as “locks” to make the NCAA field, with Louisiana, South Alabama, Texas State and Troy in position to grab a third bid out of the conference.
By contrast, Baseball America projects the American as a one-bid conference at the moment, with the only sure pathway to the NCAA bracket being a championship run in the conference tournament.
The latest projection in D1 Baseball is more favorable to the American and the league-leading Roadrunners.
The website projects the American with two bids, with UTSA getting one of them and East Carolina the other. D1 Baseball projects that in the Sun Belt, Southern Miss, Coastal Carolina and Texas State will get invitations.
Regardless of the speculation, the Roadrunners need to win this week. They need to win tonight for the regional bragging rights and the RPI points. They need to win against UAB to claim the conference title.
As important as anything, they need to feel good about themselves and be healthy going into Clearwater next week.
“We know what’s in front of us,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said. “We’re going to do what we always do, which is prepare, and these guys will compete. I’ll try to stay focused in the game and make the right moves.
“Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t, and then we’ll adapt and learn from all of it and do it again the next day.”
I-35 rivalry notable
Texas State leads the all-time series, 64-42, including a 7-2 victory over UTSA earlier this season in San Marcos. But since Steve Trout took over the Bobcats and Pat Hallmark the Roadrunners in 2020, it’s been a 5-5 series.
Since then, Hallmark and the Roadrunners have won three out of four against their rivals in San Antonio, winning 11-9 in 2024 and 12-9 last season. The Bobcats’ last win at Roadrunner Field came in 2023 when they won 5-3.