SAN ANTONIO -- Coming off a series win at Sam Houston, UTSA baseball will open its home schedule on Friday at 6 p.m., hosting UT Arlington in a four-game series at Roadrunner Field. The series will resume on Saturday with a doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m., before concluding on Sunday at 1 p.m. All four games will be broadcast live on CUSA TV.
UTSA (2-1) will face off with Sun Belt power UT Arlington (4-2) in a four-game series, starting on Friday at 6 p.m. A doubleheader – starting with a nine-inning contest and concluding with a seven-inning tilt – will start on Saturday at 1 p.m., and the series will conclude on Sunday at 1 p.m.
UTA will turn to the weekend rotation of righty Carlos Tavera (0-0, 0.00 ERA) on Friday, lefty Kody Bullard (2-0, 1.29 ERA) on Saturday in the opener and righty David Moffat (1-0, 1.29 ERA) in the finale, and right-hander Matt Novis on Sunday.
The Roadrunners come into the home-opening weekend having claimed a three-game series at Southland Conference powerhouse Sam Houston over the weekend. UTSA fell in the opener, before rallying back to even the series 10-4 on Saturday and posting an 18-5 win in the rubber match on Sunday. UTSA had to wait a week for its 2021 season opener, after its weekend series vs. Utah was cancelled on Feb. 19-21 after the winter storm blanketed Texas.
UTSA hit .321/.400/.554 to open up its 2021 season, with eight doubles, six homers and 28 RBI over opening weekend, stealing one base and committing just one fielding error. On the mound, UTSA had a 4.50 team ERA, fanning 28 and walking 14 in 26 innings.
The Roadrunners are led by dynamic second-year head coach Pat Hallmark, who took over for the 2020 campaign after a pair of strong seasons for UIW in the Southland Conference. Hallmark's talented staff includes recruiting coordinator Ryan Aguayo, pitching coach Zach Butler and volunteer assistant coach Jordan Lucks.
Senior catcher Nick Thornquist led UTSA at the plate with a .462 (6-for-13) average on opening weekend, with a homer and four RBI. Joshua Lamb hit .429 with three doubles, a homer and four RBI, while senior Griffin Paxton hit .385 with a double, homer and four RBI. Graduate transfer Ian Bailey belted a pair of homers in his UTSA debut, driving in a team-high six. Freshman Austin Ochoa hit .333 with a double, homer and three RBI, while Jonathan Tapia was 2-for-6 and Dylan Rock went 4-for-13. Infielder Shea Gutierrez was 3-of-12 with three RBI last weekend.
On the mound, UTSA used the starting rotation of third-year righty Luke Malone (0-1, 7.36 ERA) on Friday, junior lefty Grant Miller (0-0, 6.00 ERA) on Saturday and junior righty Reece Easterling (0-0, 4.15 ERA) on Sunday last week. Senior right-hander Shane Daughety (1-0, 1.80 ERA) earned one of the two relief wins last week, working five one-run innings in his season debut. Hunter Mason (1-0, 3.00 ERA) worked three innings over two outings last weekend and Jay Ward (0-0, 9.00 ERA) worked two innings over two relief outings.
UT Arlington (4-2) comes into the matchup in San Antonio having won four consecutive games, sweeping Stephen F. Austin last weekend and posting a midweek win over Abilene Christian on Tuesday. Led by Darin Thomas, the Mavs went 12-4 in the abbreviated season in 2020 and was considered to be a frontrunner to win the Sun Belt before the season was cancelled. The lion's share of the Mavericks roster returns for Thomas, who has overseen a UTA pitching staff that has posted a 2.78 ERA over 55 innings in 2021.
Veterans for the Mavs include shortstop Josh Minjarez, infielder Boone Montgomery and outfielder Phillip Childs helps spark the Mavs offensive attack, which is under the direction of hitting coach Taylor Dugas, a former star centerfielder at Alabama. Connor Aube has hit a team-high .320 through six games in 2021, with Childs hitting .318 and Montgomery adding a .313 average. Dylan Paul, lefty swinger Andrew Miller and Montgomery have each homered.
On the mound, Carlos Tavera (0-0, 0.00 ERA) has fanned 13 in six shutout, one-hit innings in 2021. Kody Bullard (2-0, 1.29 ERA) has made two starts with 12 strikeouts in seven innings, with righty David Moffat (1-0, 1.29 ERA) fanning seven in seven innings. Cade Winquest (0-0, 1.50 ERA) has worked in two games, with Michael Wong (0-0, 1.50 ERA) striking out six in six innings.
In relief for UTA, veteran righties Tristan Tom (0-0, 0.00 ERA), Wyatt Divis (0-0, 2.70 ERA) and Logan Austin (0-0, 6.00 ERA) lead the way for first-year pitching coach Brady Cox, a former catcher for the Mavs.
UTA leads the all-time series with UTSA 43-30, with UTSA owning a 17-16 advantage in games played in San Antonio. This marks the first series in San Antonio since the 2013 season. The Mavs swept UTSA in Arlington last year, posting a 13-7 win on Friday, a 9-5 result on Saturday and a 1-0 win on Sunday. The Sunday matchup was a terrific pitching performance from junior righty Jacob Jimenez, who worked 6.1 shutout innings. Hunter Mason allowed an unearned run over 1.2 relief innings. UTA got 7.1 shutout from David Moffat, with Logan Austin picking up the win with two eighth-inning outs.
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