UTSA Uses Run-Rule and Comeback Win to Take Series Against UAB

Despite the Roadrunners being unable to come away with another conference series sweep, it was still another successful weekend as they won their third conference series in as many tries. For a moment it looked like the Roadrunners would get the best of the Blazers again and take both games of a Saturday double header. That was before an 8^th inning meltdown that saw UAB score nine, playing spoiler. UTSA will now wait until the remaining conference teams finish their respective series to see where in the standings UTSA will be placed. 

STRIKES

Doubles and Jacks/Oppo Tacos…

UTSA came out swinging Friday night. That power and ability to generate XBH continued into Saturday. You could see early how the conditions were impacting balls hit to RF and the ‘Runners approached that wonderfully.

Three Roadrunners hit home runs on Friday night. Three of them were (almost) identical, opposite field bombs. Andrew Stucky stayed hot, Garrett Gruell hit his first home run as a Roadrunner and Drew Detlefsen hit two home runs, one of which was opposite field and the other was a grand slam that opened this game up. 

Across the rest of the weekend, the home runs continued. They hit another home run in game one on Saturday (you guessed it, Detlefsen) before Diego Diaz hit his first homer of the season (which took a hop before landing on top of a motor vehicle passing by). 

As the title suggests, it wasn’t just the long ball. UTSA also had a plentiful of doubles. Eleven to be exact. Seven of those came in the series finale. On one hand, it is crazy to think they hit seven doubles in one game and still lost. On the other, it’s not totally surprising because we have seen how UTSA can hit. The XBH threat will help down the line. It gives less opportunities for opposing staffs to pitch around guys. 

Big Moments…

Each game had big moments that can get overshadowed in big wins or big losses. These are moments that shift momentum, keep momentum, or impact the game although they may not be more than a note in the scorebook. 

Mason Lytle robbed a home run on Friday night. When the game was still within a reasonable reach, he ended the inning and kept two runs off the board. James Taussig also had a diving catch on Friday. 

Royse got out of early jams while at different points the defense made web-gem plays in the field. At least twice, Ty Hodge made what we are starting to take for granted, incredible plays at shortstop. 

Mason Lytle hustled out an infield single that allowed a run to score and extend the inning. That moment also allowed Drew Detlefsen to hit his third home run of the weekend. That infield single goes differently, and we may be talking about a different series outcome. 

We’ve seen the hustle, grit, and determination from UTSA all season long. It has already helped them get some extra wins (and base hits and outs). 

Solid Bullpen Help…

I’ll admit, I almost didn’t keep this “strike” in here. With how the series finale finished, I didn’t know if I could. In taking a wholistic view though, I believe it still is applicable. After all, UTSA secured the series largely in part to the bullpen. 

The bullpen got called upon Saturday earlier than desired. In just the third inning, Christian Okerholm entered trying to prevent the game from breaking wide open. Okerholm would toss four innings of one run baseball, while allowing just two hits and no walks. 

Connor Kelley and Robert Orloski also entered to toss a combined three innings, and allowing no hits. Jake Cothran and Sam Simmons paired for a nice outing Friday night, and Gunnar Brown had a couple nice innings before the 8^th inning miseries. 

As a team you’re going to have your starters struggle. Being able to ask more of your bullpen is what can help a team really take the next step. The Roadrunners aren’t fully there yet, but there is still a good amount of baseball left. 

BALLS

Stolen Bases… 

If there is one phase that can make free passes and errors seem even worse, it’s allowing stolen bases. Between the two games on Saturday, UAB successfully stole five bases. They were caught stealing zero times. 

Whether it was just some good base running, a long delivery to the plate, or just an off day for Stucky, those percentages are going to burn you. 

Stucky did catch all three games, and 26 innings in roughly 24 hours. So, there is a good chance he was exhausted by the end of it all. 

It seemed though that any time UAB was threatening or scoring runs on Saturday across the double header the stolen bases were right there beside them. 

Command Issues… 

In the (now named) First Pitch Preview I mentioned the importance of stalling on going to the bullpen. That went okay on Friday. It didn’t go the same on Saturday. 

Owens struggled with his command from the get-go, walking five in two innings of work before being pulled in the top of the third. Myles only walked two, but fell behind a lot, which required him to come in maybe a bit too much. 

As a team, UTSA issued more free bases than they drew themselves. They gave up sixteen walks while only drawing thirteen. Not to completely contradict myself, but in Saturday’s series finale loss, three walks came from the bullpen. 

There was a point of frustration where it seemed nothing the UTSA pitching staff was doing could find the strike zone. 

My takeaway from this, is that it was a quick series, with a doubleheader on day two. This isn’t a great combination for a team that has some pitching depth concerns, especially on the road where your roster is more limited. 

Pair that with only having one starter go 5+ and you are asking your bullpen to log 13.1 innings of work. On Saturday, the bullpen worked almost eleven innings. That’s a lot of pitches in six hours. 

In some ways, it’s a growing opportunity. Figure that out now, find how to work out of it, and then in the conference tournament when you’re potentially gassed from a long week you can look back on what you did in the regular season to get that out. 

THE PAY OFF PITCH…

Here is both a pro and a con: UTSA is not playing a ranked power conference opponent this week.

That has its advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, they are back to a Tuesday game they are favored in. The disadvantage is that they are facing a team in Texas A&M Corpus Christi who will be coming in to the game with an RPI in the high 100s, maybe even low 200s. That means that even with a win on Tuesday, UTSA will likely drop in the RPI. 

They also need to be careful not to overlook the Islanders. TAMU-CC has had UTSA’s number at times over the last few seasons. They’ve taken some midweeks before and even took a series from UTSA last season. 

For the Roadrunners, you want to come away with a win. Being the road team, that will help with RPI. While a win may drop you slightly, it won’t drop you as much as a loss. 

I’ll be curious who we see get the start for the ‘Runners on Tuesday. Brown had a longer outing of relief, while others threw but didn’t burn themselves. There is also James Hubbard who has some Tuesday starts under his belt. 

For the Islanders it is also just as myserious. Senior Zach Garcia appears to be their Friday guy, but outside of that, they have nine other pitchers who have made at least one start, while also having multiple appearances. 

The Islanders have a handful of pitchers with an ERA under four. Ater that it ranges from the low double digits with a wide range of innings pitched. 

Freshman Bryson Shea has four starts, but ten appearences. He also has a K:BB ratio over 4:1. 

At the plate, the extra base hits are there by way of double but not so much in the long ball. They have six players with a home run on the season, however just one with more than two. 

The Islanders have some threats on the bases, especially Senior CF, Isaac Web. Web has 13 stolen bases in 15 attempts.

For UTSA, a win is important. Yes, it’s a midweek and yes, we are now 1/3 of the way through the conference regular season. But as already mentioned, you don’t want a drastic drop.  You also want pretty close (if not more) than 40 wins in the event that at-large conversations start rumbling. 

For now, the team needs to rinse Saturday’s loss off, control what they control, and hopefully get back in the win column. 

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