By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Last year, UTSA Roadrunners baseball coaches figured that if they could limit the damage done by Ethan Mendoza, Adrian Rodriguez and Max Belyeu, then they would have a good chance to keep pace with the Texas Longhorns.
UTSA coach Pat Hallmark has guided his team to a 33-14 record going into a Tuesday night test in Austin against the Texas Longhorns. Texas is 35-10 and ranked fourth in the latest D1 Baseball Top 25 poll. – File photo by Joe Alexander
As it turned out, the Roadrunners did more than just keep up. They won three games from the perennial national power in Austin, including one in the regular season and two in the NCAA playoffs, to send shock waves around the nation.
With the Roadrunners preparing to play the Horns in Austin for the first time this season on Tuesday night, the equation has changed.
Even though Belyeu has moved on to professional baseball, Roadrunners coaches see a Longhorns lineup this season that poses more of a problem.
“They’re deeper,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said, meaning that Texas has more ability this year to score runs.
“This might sound weird,” the coach said, “but they’re a little bit like (the University of the Incarnate Word). The message (to our pitchers) against UIW was that you’re not going to pitch a shutout today.
“You’re not going to pitch a two hitter. It’ll be the same (against Texas). Like, Texas is going to get some hits. Texas is going to score some runs. I think the key to this game is quality at bats in our lineup.”
Hallmark said he forecasts a high-scoring game.
“I could be wrong,” he said. “I could have this all wrong and it’ll be 1-0, but that would shock me. But you might see something more in the neighborhood of, like 10-8, 12-10, or something like that.
“Their lineup is just deeper. Deeper (in) power (hitting). In other words, people that can do some damage.”
For the fourth-ranked Longhorns, who improved to 35-10 by winning two of three from No. 10 Mississippi State over the weekend, Mendoza and Rodriguez haven’t hit at the same high level this season.
Last year, Mendoza batted .333 and Rodriguez .313, with both of them hovering just above .900 in OPS, a combination of average, on base percentage and slugging.
This season, Mendoza is batting for an average of .281 with an .884 OPS. Rodriguez is at .262 and .779.
The biggest producers in the Texas lineup right now are Seton Hall transfer Aiden Robbins, freshman Anthony Pack Jr. and catcher Carson Tinney, formerly of Notre Dame.
Robbins leads the Longhorns, batting .365. He’s also got 18 homers and 51 RBIs.
His power is not a rumor. In March, at the Bruce Bolt Classic in Houston, Robbins launched a home run that hit the train tracks at the top of Daikin Park, where the Houston Astros play.
Pack, a multi-skilled freshman from California, bats .348 and has 40 RBIs. Combined with speed that has allowed him to steal 17 bases in 18 attempts, he will test the Roadrunners in many ways.
Tinney, from Castle Pines, Colo., is a .314 hitter with 16 home runs, with two of them coming in one game last Tuesday at home against the Sam Houston State Bearkats.
His two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth rallied the Longhorns past the Bearkats, 15-14.
On the weekend, the Longhorns won a Southeastern Conference series in Austin by taking two of three from the 10th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Records
UTSA 33-14 (15-6 in the American)
Texas 35-10 (15-8 in the SEC)
Coming up
UTSA at Texas, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
UTSA at Memphis, Friday, 6 p.m.
UTSA at Memphis, Saturday, 2 p.m.
UTSA at Memphis, Sunday, 1 p.m.
Notable
Pitching plans haven’t been announced for either team as yet.
The Roadrunners are coming off a 4-0 week — all at home — in which they beat the Incarnate Word Cardinals, 22-10, last Tuesday and then swept the Wichita State Shockers, 13-7, 8-1 and 6-3.
With the Roadrunners sitting on 33 wins and in first place by two games in the American, they have moved up to No. 38 in the national ratings percentage index.
As for their NCAA tournament chances, the forecast is good at the moment.
The Roadrunners are projected along with the East Carolina Pirates as teams from the American Conference expected to make the 64-team field, according to The Tennessean and On3.com.
UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said he’s focused on winning the American’s regular-season championship, which he said would “go a long way” toward securing the program’s second straight NCAA bid.
“In my opinion we’re winning the games that we should win and even some that we shouldn’t,” he said. “I think that we’re overachieving. So I’m happy about that, and that’s something that I keep my mind on, and we’ll see where the RPI shakes out.
“If we can win the conference — which I don’t mind talking about — it’s a big if. We haven’t done it. But we’re in a position in the last two weeks to possibly win it. If we can … (that) will go a long way in putting us in the NCAA tournament, in my opinion.
“That’s what history says. They definitely will look at a regular-season conference championship, as well as RPI. That championship will hold some weight. That’s really where we’re most focused right now, is trying to win this thing.”