UTSA Sweeps FAU for Big Conference Home Opening Weekend

The Roadrunners continue to play winning baseball. Now on a six-game winning streak, their most recent success comes on a big conference weekend sweep of the Florida Atlantic Owls. 

UTSA showed that they could go toe-to-toe and more against solid pitching. They showed they can battle back from behind against quality opponents. They also showed that they can overcome mistakes from a phase of the game, clean it up, and have clutch moments later from that same phase. 

The successful weekend now has them one game behind the ECU Pirates in the conference standings. They have improved to 23-7 (5-1) and are 16-1 at The Bird Bath. They will be challenged in another way now, as they begin an eight-game road trip that kicks off against an in-state Power 4 team. 

Will UTSA be able to play midweek spoiler again? Will their opponent be ranked? We’ll get to that in a moment. For now, let’s get into the full-count recap. 

STRIKES

BB:K ratio… 

I mentioned in the weekend preview the impressive K:BB ratio the Owls’ pitching staff was bringing into the weekend. The ‘Runners passed the test at winning this phase of the game. 

As a team, the Roadrunners walked more than they struck out. Across the weekend they reached by base on balls 17 times and kept their strikeouts to 16. Considering UTSA has had weekends with multiple double digit strikeout games, this is very nice against FAU’s staff. 

Individually, UTSA had great two strike approaches at the plate. Drew Detlefsen fouled off three pitches in a nine-pitch at bat before taking advantage of a breaking ball that never broke. He sailed it over the left field wall (his second of the game) giving UTSA the lead for good. 

In the final at-bat in Sunday’s walk off win, James Taussig worked the count full before driving in the winning RBI (his third of the game, on his birthday). 

FAU’s young staff certainly had some impressive stuff on the mound. UTSA took what they’ve learned this season and responded well. 

Defense, Defense, Defense…

Baseball can give you two completely different games, with the same players, on two different days. That was what we saw Friday into Saturday and early Sunday before the UTSA defense showed up again in a big way. 

Friday’s performance may have been one of the best complete games, best defensive performances I’ve seen in a while for UTSA Baseball. 

The box score was clean. The defense helped on more than one occasion. What was impressive was how many web-gem worthy plays there were. 

Mason Lytle made a diving catch to end the 6^th. Drew Detlefsen made a diving catch in left and then doubled up an Owl for leaving early. Jordan Ballin made an over the shoulder catch himself. 

There were just as impressive plays on Sunday as well. After a game that did not start clean, the UTSA outfield saved the game by coming out on the right side of FAU being overly aggressive on the base paths. 

In the 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th, UTSA made the clutch plays. Twice it was to end the inning. On one, it was a double play. Lytle made two of the plays, while Detlefsen also made one. 

If UTSA doesn’t make these plays, I don’t know if they Win Sunday. If they only make two of them, who knows what may have happened. 

It stopped the bleeding, kept the game within reach, and switched momentum in a big way. It will certainly be a sequence we may look back on for a while. 

Not Giving Up At Bat…

I already touched on the BB:K ratio. I also briefly mentioned how UTSA showed grit and battled back this weekend. 

Five different times this weekend the Roadrunners were trailing before either evening the score or taking the lead. 

In the first three innings, FAU outscored UTSA 9-4. In innings 4 through 9, UTSA flipped the script and outscored FAU 20-7. And that is why we’re talking about a successful weekend sweep. 

The Roadrunners knew they were facing a solid staff. They didn’t let that phase them, and showed FAU, the rest of the conference, and whoever else was checking in, the dangerous lineup they put out. 

They also acquired those runs in a plentiful of dynamic ways. They used power, with six extra base hits. They played small ball, laying down several sac-bunts that resulted in infield singles, and they were aggressive on the base-paths. 

Perhaps overshadowed now, but an important insurance run came by way of Caden Miller stealing home on a light toss back to the pitcher. Flustered, the FAU pitcher sailed the return throw and Miller scored without a tag attempt. UTSA’s aggressiveness will bite them sometimes, but it works out more than it doesn’t and it’s fun when it does. 

BALLS…

Out of their groove…

As impressive as the defense was, there were certainly some moments of frustrations. UTSA made two errors on both Saturday and Sunday. Some of the plays were not routine, while they still should have been made. 

It also seemed on Saturday at points and early on Sunday that the defense was out of sorts. It’s a long season. The game has ebbs and flows. There just seemed to be some mental errors that hadn’t been there as much as previous years. 

What is encouraging is how they found a way to sweep the series, despite the errors in two of three games. 

A few of the mistakes can be cleaned up with fine-tuning and continuing to get more comfortable with the positioning. 

Two out runs…

Yes, I’ve mentioned this before. Call it a pet-peeve of mine. In fairness, UTSA got out of some crucial two out jams this weekend. Owens getting out of a bases loaded 4^th inning while already down 3-0 may have saved the game by keeping the deficit within reach. 

Two out runs also made things more difficult for the Roadrunners. Ten of the Owl’s sixteen runs came on two outs. I’m not surprised they had a good two out approach; they are a good team with some dangerous hitters. But also, nothing shifts momentum like home runs and two out runs. It’s that last bit of sails taken out of the winds, or oomph to a team depending what side they are on. 

The Pay Off Pitch 

By Monday morning, UTSA could be gearing up to play their fourth ranked opponent of the season. All on the road. This time they travel to Fort Worth to take on the TCU Horned Frogs.

It will depend on how the current Top 25 fared over the weekend if TCU can find their way in this week. They have had a very good past few weeks winning seven of their last nine. 

The Roadrunners will also be tasked with trying to give TCU their first midweek loss of the season. TCU has wins against UTRGV, Texas State, and DBU. Their midweeks have been close though, sans a two-game mini-series against Air Force. 

The Roadrunners have been playing spoiler in the midweeks this year. They have taken down a ranked (at the time) Texas A&M and a ranked Texas. This will also be their last midweek against a power conference before finishing up with mid-majors the rest of the way. 

TCU leads the all-time series against UTSA 10-4. UTSA did win the last time they met up, in 2022 by a score of 12-8. That game was on March 30^th, this one will be on April 1^st. Before 2022, you must go all the way back to 1994 to find the 2^nd most recent time they defeated the Horn Frogs. 

As a team, TCU is only hitting .281 at the plate. They have hit 32 home runs; however, they have struck out about 80 more times than walks. They like to be aggressive on the bases but have been thrown out fourteen times. 

At the plate their leader in both hits, doubles, and RBIs is Freshman RF, Sawyer Strosnider. Chase Brunson is their other big threat with 22 RBIs, 32 hits, 12 XBH, and 5 SB on 5 attempts. 

On the mound they hold a slight one run advantage over UTSA, with a team ERA of 4.22. They have almost twice as many doubles as home runs and have thrown 22 wild pitches and 34 hit batters. Another thing they do well is the K:BB ratio. They have a little more than a 2.5:1 ratio. UTSA’s patience and ability to draw walks should be tested.

I’ll be curious to see who they let start/open as they have a handful of solid options with guys who have made starts but also work out of the bullpen. 

While TCU had a tough schedule early, it has balanced out some. They come in with an RPI of 34, and a SOS of 100. This is slightly above UTSA coming in at 39, and 155. 

In a lot of ways, the season is still young. While we are over halfway through by number of games, there are still seven weeks left before the AAC tournament. 

The most important thing for UTSA to do is stay grounded. At-large rumblings have started. If the Roadrunners win this game and continue to churn out conference series wins that RPI will continue to climb. 

We’ll hold off on any talks more than that for now. But it is an exciting time to be a Roadrunner.

Looking for more UTSA content? Consider supporting us on Patreon to immediately gain access to hundreds of exclusive podcasts, videos, and articles. Click the banner below to view our membership options and associated benefits.