IRVING, Texas — The American Athletic Conference released its 2025 awards at 2 p.m. on Monday, May 19, with Mason Lytle being named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, while head coach Pat Hallmark was named Coach of the Year, all picked unanimously.



In his sixth year at the helm of the Roadrunners, Hallmark grabbed his second Coach of the Year award in his career as he was named the 2019 Southland Conference Coach of the Year while at UIW. Leading the Roadrunners to a program record 42-11 record, Hallmark gets his first Coach of the Year Award with the program.



The preseason Player of the Year, Lytle, lived up to expectations as he led the conference in at-bats, runs, hits, and doubles. Lytle is the fourth UTSA player to be named Player of the Year, first to be named the AAC Player of the Year.



Junior transfer from Dodge City Junior College, Drew Detlefsen, was named co-Newcomer Position Player of the Year. In just two years being a part of the AAC, the Roadrunners have picked up two Newcomer Position Player of the Year awards, with Lytle winning that award in the 2024 season. The outfielder was also named to the All-Conference Second Team.



Robert Orloski was picked unanimously as one of the All-Conference First Team relief pitchers. Catcher Andrew Stucky, shortstop Ty Hodge, outfielders Lytle and James Taussig were all named to the All-Conference First Team, with Lytle being picked unanimously.



Orloski was stellar coming into relief for the Roadrunners as he racked up a perfect 7-0 record, notching seven saves in 21 appearances. Stucky had an outstanding year as he was second in the conference in OPS, he batted .347 on the year and threw out five runners from behind the plate.



T. Hodge spent the majority of the season as the shortstop for the Roadrunners’ defense, where he batted .303, racking up 11 doubles and six homers. Hodge rolled seven double plays this year. Taussig was a mainstay in the Roadrunners’ lineup as he led the conference in slugging with .600 with 12 doubles, one triple and nine homers.



Freshman Jordan Ballin and outfielder Drew Detlefsen garnered All-Conference Second Team honors. Ballin made a name for himself as he has the third-best on-base percentage in Division I. Detlefsen has made an impact in the conference as he leads the conference in RBIs with a total of 69 on the year.



The Roadrunners had three freshmen named to the All-Freshman Team, those of which being Ballin, Nathan Hodge, and Caden Miller. Nathan Hodge has played both second and third for UTSA, as he drove in 23 RBIs for UTSA and batted .321. Miller has 39 walks on the year, which is the program record for freshman, he also leads the freshman homers.



UTSA had five student-athletes named All-Conference First Team, the most out of any team in the league.



The complete 2025 American Athletic Conference Baseball honors can be found below:



PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mason Lytle, Sr., OF, UTSA*



PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Blake Gillespie, Jr., P, Charlotte



NEWCOMER POSITION PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Todd Clay, Jr., 3B, UAB

Drew Detlefsen, Jr., OF, UTSA



NEWCOMER PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Blake Gillespie, Jr., P, Charlotte



DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mason Lytle, Sr., OF, UTSA



COACH OF THE YEAR

Pat Hallmark, UTSA*



ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM

P – Blake Gillespie, Jr., Charlotte*

P – Trey Beard, So., Florida Atlantic

P – Corey Braun, R-Jr., South Florida

RP – Michael Lombardi, Tulane

RP – Robert Orloski, So., UTSA*

C – Andrew Stucky, Sr., UTSA

1B – Cody Gunderson, Jr., Charlotte

2B – Connor Rasmussen, Jr., Tulane

SS – Ty Hodge, R-Jr., UTSA

3B – Dawson Bryce, So., Charlotte

OF – Marshall Lipsey, Jr., Florida Atlantic

OF – Mason Lytle, Sr., UTSA*

OF – James Taussig, Sr., UTSA

DH – Blaine Brown, Fr., Rice

UTL – Colby Wallace, So., East Carolina



ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM

P – Colin Daniel, Jr., UAB

P – Ethan Norby, So., East Carolina

P – Davion Hickson, Jr., Rice

RP – RJ Bollinger, So., Florida Atlantic

RP – Jack Nedrow, Sr., South Florida

C – Logan Poteet, R-So., Charlotte

1B – Sebastian Greico, Sr., South Florida

2B – Jordan Ballin, Fr., UTSA

SS – Brando Leroux, Sr., Florida Atlantic

3B – Todd Clay, Jr., UAB

OF – Logan Braunschweig, Sr., UAB

OF – Braden Burress, Fr., East Carolina

OF – Drew Detlefsen, Jr., UTSA

DH – Gavin Schulz, Sr., Tulane

UTL – Seth Cox, Sr., Memphis



ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

Brendan Connor, P, UAB

Braden Burress, INF, East Carolina*

Austin Irby, INF, East Carolina

James Litman, P, Florida Atlantic

Hiram Bocachica Jr., INF, Rice

Blaine Brown, P/OF, Rice*

Michael Zito, INF, Rice

Jordan Ballin, 2B, UTSA

Nathan Hodge, UTL, UTSA

Caden Miller, UTL, UTSA

Tanner Chun, OF, Tulane

Jason Wachs, OF, Tulane*



* denotes unanimous selection

Back in the summer of 2020, when nobody knew when football might resume, I started a summer series called UTSA What If. The story series looked at how things might have turned out for UTSA athletics if certain events had different outcomes.

That was the first of what has become an annual summer series, usually in 10 parts. To refresh the memory of that first series, here are what the stories in the original UTSA What If series were about.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of that first story series, I'm doing UTSA What If Part Two starting later this month. These will be the What Ifs of the last few years, but there is also a chance that some of the what-ifs might come from any of the nearly 45 years of UTSA athletics.

Possible new what-ifs for part two include

What if Jeff Traylor goes to Texas Tech in 2021?

What if Frank Harris doesn't come back in 2023?

What if UTSA baseball earns an at large bid to the 2022 NCAA tournament?

What if UTSA becomes a basketball school early in its history?

What are some of your what ifs for UTSA Athletics?

Share them in this thread.