SAN ANTONIO — UTSA is set to host its sixth American Athletic Conference series starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 25. The second game will begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 26, and the series finale will start at noon on Sunday, Apr. 27, at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio, Texas.
The Matchup
The 30-10 (12-3) UTSA Roadrunners will take on the 16-24 (4-11) Memphis Tigers in the Roadrunners’ sixth AAC series of the 2025 season and second-to-last home weekend series.
The weekend series will be broadcast on ESPN+, and Karl Schoening and Mike Capps will be on the call. Live stats for the game will be on utsa.statbroadcast.com.
Series History
UTSA has played just three games against the Tigers. The three games were played last year in a weekend series in Memphis, Tenn. The Roadrunners brought home the series win by defeating the Tigers in game one, 9-6, and game three, 7-5.
On the Mound
Zach Royse is starting the Friday night game for the Roadrunners. This will be his 11th start this season. He has 55.1 innings pitched with five wins under his belt. Royse has tallied 53 strikeouts and just 17 walks.
Braylon Owens is scheduled to start his 11th game on Saturday night. Owens has 51 innings pitched, racking up 53 strikeouts and just 20 walks. Conor Myles is starting the series finale. This will be his 11th start of the season; he has 44.2 innings pitched with 44 strikeouts and four victories.
Last Time Out
UTSA took home their fifth conference series win as they defeated Tulane in both game one and game three of the three-game series. In game three of the weekend series, the Roadrunners scored a season high 25 runs.
Win on Sunday
The Roadrunners are 8-1 on Sundays. Their last loss on a Sunday was to Dallas Baptist, which was ranked No. 20 at the time. The Roadrunners have outscored their opponents 70-36 on Sundays.
Home Run Cycle
UTSA was able to hit for the home run cycle in the bottom of the second in their game against Tulane on Saturday, Apr. 19. It all started with a three-run home run hit by Norris McClure. Diego Diaz hit the second homer of the inning, this time a grand slam. McClure stepped up to the plate once again and hit the two-run homer. Mason Lytle completed the home run cycle with a solo homer.
Detlefsen, Lytle and Taussig
The Roadrunners’ outfield has been dominating thanks to the likes of Drew Detlefsen, Lytle and Taussig. As a trio, they have a batting average of .355, driving in a total of 142 RBIs, which is 43.7 percent of UTSA’s total RBIs. Lytle, Taussig, and Detlefsen have a total of 20 homers, which is 47.7 percent of UTSA’s total home runs.
UTSA RPI
The Roadrunners currently have an RPI ranking of 30. The Roadrunners are down 107 spots from the first ranking that game out on Mar. 2. UTSA’s lowest RPI ranking this year was 23 on Apr. 23, and their highest ranking was 143 on Mar. 11.
The Roadrunners are 3-3 versus quad one; they are currently 2-2 versus quad two opponents, with seven quad two games coming up. The Roadrunners are 10-3 against quad three opponents and 15-2 against quad four opponents.
Roadrunners in the top 30
The Roadrunners have been making noise across the nation as they rank inside the top thirty in Batting average, doubles, doubles per game, fielding percentage HBP, hits, on-base percentage, runs, sacrifice flies, scoring, strikeout-to-walk ratio, WL percentage and walks per nine innings.
National RBI Ranking
Detlefsen is tied for sixth in the nation in RBIs with 59 to his name. Detlefsen is averaging 1.48 RBIs per game, which puts him 12th in the nation.
He Gets on Base
Freshman Jordan Ballin has been making a name for himself as he currently has an on-base percentage of .558, which is the fifth highest in Division I baseball. It is also the highest on-base percentage in the conference. Ballin has 28 walks on the year with 12 HBP.
AAC Weekly Awards
Senior infielder Norris McClure was named American Athletic Player of the Week, the conference office announced at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Apr. 21. McClure led the league this week in batting average, RBI, total bases, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He was one of two AAC student-athletes to hit three homers this week.
UTSA has now won five Player of the Week awards this year: this was McClure’s first, Lytle has two, Detlefsen and Andrew Stucky each have one. Owens is the only UTSA pitcher named Pitcher of the Week. Myles, Caden Miller, Robert Orloski and Owens have all garnered honorable mentions.
All he does is win
Sophomore pitcher Orloski has done great work coming out of the bullpen as he has appeared in 15 games, racking up seven wins in the process, which puts him tied for eighth in the nation. Orloski has pitched in 46.1 innings, striking out 46 batters and holding his opponents to a .206 batting average with three saves.
Leading the League
UTSA currently leads the American Athletic Conference in seven different statistical measures, which are batting average (.325), slugging percentage (.500), on-base percentage (.436), runs (352), hits (440), RBIs (325) and total bases (678).
Lytle is leading the league in at-bats (173), runs (50), hits (68) and total bases (103). Detlefsen is leading The American in RBIs with 59. Ballin is leading the league in on-base percentage with a .558 OB%.
At-Home Dominance
The Roadrunners are 19-2 at home, outscoring their opponents 227-90. UTSA is batting .360 at Roadrunner Field, hitting a total of 23 homers.
UTSA vs. Ranked Opponents
Since taking over the program in 2020, Pat Hallmark is 19-21 against ranked foes. With their most recent win coming against No. 8 Texas on Mar. 18, the Roadrunners’ highest-ranked win came against #2 Stanford in 2022. UTSA is now 3-2 against ranked foes as they have beaten No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 20 DBU and No. 8 Texas.
Win Streak
After starting off the season 1-3, the Roadrunners ripped off a 14-game win streak, which is now the UTSA baseball team’s longest win streak in program history, beating a 12-game win streak set by the 1994 team.
The streak started with a 6-5 win over Long Island University on Feb. 22. The win streak continued until Mar. 9 with a 7-4 win over Texas Southern. With 13 of the 14 games played at home, UTSA took down No. 14 Texas A&M in College Station on Mar. 4. The streak finally ended with a loss to UIW on Mar. 11.
Taussig Tanks
Taussig had an outstanding week, in Mar. 11-Mar. 16 as he blasted four home runs in the three games against Dallas Baptist. Taussig batted .538 on the week, racking up 11 RBIs with an outstanding 1.462 slugging percentage.
Hallmark’s 150th
Head coach Pat Hallmark earned his 150th career win with UTSA on Saturday, Mar. 1, defeating the YSU 16-13. Hallmark is just the third UTSA head coach to reach at least 150 wins in program history.
No Free Bags
The Roadrunners hold a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.75, which is 15th in the nation and second in the American Athletic Conference. They also have a 3.19 ratio of walks per nine innings, which is eighth in the nation.
Doubles and Jacks
The Roadrunner offense has come alive as they have racked up 94 doubles on the year, putting them in second place among the AAC. UTSA has 44 homers, which is fourth in the conference. Detlefsen leads the team in homers with 11 to his name, which is second in the conference.
Energy Stu
Senior catcher Stucky, whose name is pronounced STEW-key, was the inspiration for a team mantra, Energy Stu. Comes from a phrase shouted to the team to raise the energy at practice.
The Return of Malone
Former pitcher Luke Malone rejoins the Roadrunners in a different capacity as he joined the coaching staff in October 2024 as the Director of Player Development and Analytics.
Malone was a star pitcher for the Roadrunners from 2020 to 2023, earning all-conference accolades in each of his final two seasons. The right-hander finished his career with a 17-9 record, 4.45 ERA, 178 strikeouts and a pair of saves in 63 appearances that totaled 234.2 innings pitched.
2024 AAC All-Freshman Team
The Roadrunners welcome back both Diego Diaz and Orloski, who both made the 2024 AAC All-Freshman Team. Both Diaz and Orloski are already seeing significant action for the Roadrunners.
Diaz has started eight games for the Roadrunners at second base, playing in a total of 18 games. Orloski has pitched in 11 games for the Roadrunners, tallying 36 innings pitched with 35 strikeouts and 15 walks with seven wins and one save.
Preseason AAC Rankings
After finishing 17-10 to finish second in the American Athletic Conference in 2024, their first year in the league, the Roadrunners were picked to finish fourth by the league’s coaches in 2025.
Lytle’s Accomplishments
Senior outfielder Lytle has racked up an impressive list of awards entering his senior campaign. In his first year with the Roadrunners, Lytle was named 2024 AAC Newcomer of the Year while also being named to the AAC All-Academic Team.
Leading up to the 2025 season, Lytle has been named as the 2025 Preseason Player of the Year, the 2025 D1Baseball AAC Preseason Player of the Year and to the 2025 Perfect Game College Baseball Preseason AAC All-Conference Team. He was also named the 32nd-best outfielder in the nation, according to D1Baseball.
The Hodge Brothers
UTSA has a pair of brothers on the team, Ty Hodge and Nathan Hodge. The Hodge brothers come from College Station, Texas, but have two different paths in finding their way to UTSA. T. Hodge is a transfer from Houston Christian who spent a year at Texas A&M. N. Hodge is a true freshman.
Home Grown
28 of the 38 players on the roster are from Texas, making up just shy of 75 percent of the roster. These players range from southern Texas, such as Pharr, all the way up to northern Texas, such as Mansfield. Josh Vaughn is the lone Roadrunner who calls San Antonio home.
Overseas Roadrunners
The Roadrunners have two players who come from outside of America, Lorenzo Morresi and Myles. Morresi is from Macerata, Italy. Before coming to UTSA, Morressi spent two seasons in Hobbs, New Mexico, playing at NMJC.
Myles comes from the southern hemisphere, calling Melbourne, Australia, home. Myles spent two seasons in west Texas, as he played for Odessa JC before coming to play for the Roadrunners.
Fresh-faced Freshmen
UTSA has seven true freshmen on the roster and two redshirt freshmen. The two redshirt freshmen are Ryan Jester, who spent last season with the Roadrunners, and Holden Harris, who comes to UTSA after spending the 2024 season at TCU.
The seven true freshmen are Peyton Adams, Ballin, Mason Jacob, N. Hodge, Ryley Chapman, Todd Rochelle and Caden Miller.
Up Next
After the weekend series, the Roadrunners will travel up I-35 to take on Texas State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Apr. 29.
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