SAN ANTONIO— The Roadrunners are set to host Rice in their final home series of the 2025 campaign, with game one starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, with game two beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 15 and the series finale beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 16.
The Matchup
The 39-11 (20-4) UTSA Roadrunners will host the 17-35 (10-14) Rice Owls in UTSA’s final home series in the 2025 season.
The weekend series will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Mike Capps on the call. Live stats for the game will be on utsa.statbroadcast.com.
Series History
The Roadrunners and Owls have played in 51 games total. Rice holds the advantage over UTSA with 30 wins. In their last three-game series, the Roadrunners fell to Rice as the Owls took the first two games of the series.
On the Mound
Zach Royse is making his 14th start on Thursday. Royse has thrown 74.0 innings, holding a 4.50 ERA with eight wins under his belt. Conor Myles will also be making his 14th start on the mound on Friday. Myles has 57 innings pitched with four wins to his name.
Last Time Out
UTSA took their eighth conference series win of the year, winning the first two games against East Carolina. Their second win over ECU was the Roadrunners’ 39th win of the season, which ties the program record for single-season wins.
Mashing Mason
Mason Lytle has been a killer at the plate as he has 83 hits, which is 10th in the nation. He averages 1.66 hits per game, which is 12 in Division One baseball.
National RBI Ranking
Detlefsen is tied for 20th in the nation in RBIs with 65 to his name. Detlefsen is averaging 1.30 RBIs per game, which puts him tied for 30th 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 .559, which is the second highest in Division I baseball. It is also the highest on-base percentage in the conference. Ballin has 34 walks on the year with 14 HBP.
Win on Sunday
The Roadrunners are 10-1 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 79-43 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 James Taussig. As a trio, they have a batting average of .347, driving in a total of 179 RBIs, which is 42.7 percent of UTSA’s total RBIs. Lytle, Taussig, and Detlefsen have a total of 29 homers, which is half of UTSA’s total home runs.
UTSA RPI
The Roadrunners currently have an RPI ranking of 20. The Roadrunners are down 117 spots from the first ranking that game out on Mar. 2. This is the highest-ranking UTSA has had all year, with their lowest ranking being 143 on Mar. 11.
The Roadrunners are 3-3 versus quad one; they are currently 8-3 versus quad two opponents. The Roadrunners are 10-3 against quad three opponents and 18-2 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 allowed per nine innings.
AAC Weekly Awards
Outfielder Drew Detlefsen was named American Athletics Conference Player of the Week, the conference office announced at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, May 5. This is Detlefsen’s second AAC Player of the Week award this season, as he earned his first on Monday, Mar. 10.
UTSA has now won seven Player of the Week awards this year, their fourth straight: both Mason Lytle and Detlefsen have won it twice, Ty Hodge, Norris McClure and Andrew Stucky have all won it once. Owens is the only UTSA pitcher named Pitcher of the Week. Conor Myles, Caden Miller, Robert Orloski, James Taussig and Owens have all garnered honorable mentions.
Leading the League
UTSA currently leads the American Athletic Conference in seven different statistical measures, which are batting average (.323), slugging percentage (.499), on-base percentage (.433), runs (450), hits (554), RBIs (419) and total bases (856)
Lytle is leading the league in at-bats, runs, hits and total bases. Detlefsen is leading the conference in RBIs. James Taussig is leading the AAC in slugging percentage. Royse is leading the conference pitchers in wins.
At-Home Dominance
The Roadrunners are 22-2 at home, outscoring their opponents 262-104. UTSA is batting .357 at Roadrunner Field, hitting a total of 30 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 2.57, which is 25th in the nation and second in the American Athletic Conference. They also have a 3.33 ratio of walks per nine innings, which is 13th in the nation.
Doubles and Jacks
The Roadrunner offense has come alive as they have racked up 114 doubles on the year, putting them in second place among the AAC. UTSA has 58 homers, which is tied for third in the conference. Detlefsen leads the team in homers with 13 to his name, which is tied for third 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 13 games for the Roadrunners at second base, playing in a total of 34 games. Orloski has pitched in 20 games for the Roadrunners, tallying 57 innings pitched with 57 strikeouts and 23 walks with seven wins and seven saves.
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 Miller.
Up Next
After the weekend series, the Roadrunners will head to Clearwater, Fla. To play in the American Athletic Conference Championship, where they are the one seed, on Tuesday, May 20.
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