We know about Jarveon, Egg and Chase for the most part. It'll be interesting to see how much impact these JUCO transfers can make this spring because three or four of them need to be starters by the end of spring practice.

Juniors

So the other people are reporting there is going to be a new locker room on campus. $540,000. Not too shabby.

We have made a name change. Now to access site, use domain name BirdsUp.com and it'll direct to us.

We'll learn a lot about UTSA baseball this week. Can the starting pitching keep UTSA in games long enough to pull an upset or two this weekend?

UC Irvine

Today's is an important day for UTSA hoops. 2pm tip in the Convo.

After Thursday loss to Rice I took a day and a half hiatus from college hoops. We saw one of the most pathetic defensive performances all year. The transition D was garbage and UTSA did a piss poor job at defending the two man screen and pop plays up high. Rice controlled the temp the entire game and it showed with the lack of effort on the defense. After praising some of the guys with their season successes they come out and crap the bed. Frustrating to see it go down the way it did.

I have to apologize for my poor analysis on predicting the lowest seed UTSA could fall was the #8 spot. Obviously not the case with them dropping to #10 after Thursday. Today's action around the league can still change that for the better.

Alright, so UNT is in the house today and a must win for UTSA. Hopefully our guys come out ready to put up a fight. Offensively, we have the fire power to keep it competitive. In our game against Rice, the ball was sticking at times and we had no rythm. Gino and Keon need to move that as quickly as possible. If it ain't moving call it out and set it up again. The 2-3 D-zone Rice was laying on us was so much more effective when the ball stopped moving. Ball. Movement.

Can't really say much about our defense that wasn't stated above. Dudes need to quite f'n around and play D. Luckily, UNT is not that accurate from 3pt land but we shouldn't give them an opportunity to improve that. Along with their poor shooting percentage up high, they are not a very good FT shooting team. My strategy here is not to make stupid fouls and put us at risk for early foul trouble and bonus opportunities but to make them earn it at the stripe, if necessary. No easy buckets inside. If they blow past you take the foul and let them shoot it at the line.

See y'all at the Convo! GO RUNNERS!!!

This post was edited on 3/7 8:46 AM by Pist0lPet3

Now that National Signing Day is over and Coker has NLI's from all the recruits that he was expecting to sign with UTSA, I wanted to re-generate a listing of all the scholarship football players that we could be seeing on the roster by this fall, including the new players. As I was re-creating this listing, there are a couple of items that I observed that I wanted to bring to your attention as well as comment on a couple of things that should be noted:

- Scholarship player Sean Hesler (WR) is no longer listed on the roster

- I have 2015 signee Avery Jackson listed on here but as we all know, he will be greyshirted (indicated with a *). Also, as reported, Zach Pare is a probable candidate for greyshirting as well (indicated with **). This will drop the number of total scholarship players by up to 2.

- I indicated which freshmen are true freshmen and which ones are redshirt freshmen with the TF and RS symbols respectively. As we all know, some true freshmen with see some playing time this fall but probably the majority of them will end up being redshirted so those indivduals will be classified as freshmen again come this time next year (RS freshmen to be exact).

- I classified Dye and Bogenschutz and true freshmen but I put a question mark on them because given that they were granted medical redshirts this past fall, it could be that they might still have 5 years to play for 4 season (thus theoretically being allowed to use a regular redshirt next season) or perhaps last season also counts as their redshirt season being used. I'm not too sure on what the technicality on that is here since I've usually heard of players getting a medical redshirt in a future season after their freshman season; if anyone has more knowledge on this, feel free to chime in.

- I read about a kicker from UMass transferring to UTSA named Matt Wylie: http://www.masslive.com/umassfootball/index.ssf/2015/02/report_walk-on_umass_kicker_ma.html . This article states that he's a walk-on son I'm not including him in this listing (unless something changes in his enrollment at UTSA). He's not on the full team roster yet but perhaps we'll see him on there by the beginning of the summer or by fall camp (assuming he's a preferred walk-on).

- So here are how the number of scholarship players are looking like: there are 37 freshmen (35 if you don't count Johnson and Pare), 17 sophomores, 16 juniors, and 13 seniors for a total of 83 (though it could be down to 81). We technically have room to add up to 4 more scholarship players to the roster (to reach the allowed max of 85) but being that we signed 24 to count towards the 2015 class, that means that we can only add 1 more by way of signing (signing period is technically not over until April 1st) or transfer to count towards the 2015 class. It may actually be up to 3 that we could add if both Johnson and Pare are greyshirted and are counted towards the 2016 signing class numbers. We could also see some walk-ons being placed on scholarship sometime from now till the beginning of the 2015 season but I don't think that those count against class numbers (I need to ask about that); they are counted towards the max of 85 however.

Please note that this listing should not be considered an official listing (this is mainly based on my knowledge of things) and that things could change from now till the fall if more attrition and/or additions occur.


Freshmen (37; though maybe 35 after all):

TF Jess Anders RB 5-9 175 Fr.-HS Aledo, Texas (Aledo HS)
TF Baylen Baker DT 6-5 260 Fr.-HS Abilene, Texas (Wylie HS)
TF Shane Block OT 6-5 275 Fr.-HS Yukon, Okla.(Yukon HS)
TF JaColbie Butler CB 5-10 175 Fr.-HS Pearland, Texas (Pearland HS)
TF Derrick Dick WR 5-9 175 Fr.-HS College Station, Texas (A&M Consolidated HS)
TF Darryl Godfrey S 6-1 185 Fr.-HS San Antonio, Texas (O’Connor HS)
TF Matthew Guidry WR 5-10 170 Fr.-HS League City, Texas (Clear Springs HS)
TF Peyton Hall WR 6-0 180 Fr.-HS San Antonio, Texas (Brandeis HS)
TF Manny Harris QB 6-0 220 Fr.-HS Copperas Cove, Texas (Copperas Cove HS)
TF DeQuarius Henry DE 6-4 220 Fr.-HS Houston, Texas (Sharpstown HS)
TF Avery Jackson(*) CB 5-10 170 Fr.-HS Austin, Texas (Johnson HS)
TF JaCorie Jones CB 5-10 175 Fr.-HS Port Arthur, Texas (Memorial HS)
TF T.J. King DE 6-4 225 Fr.-HS Irving, Texas (MacArthur HS)
TF C.J. Levine S 6-0 190 Fr.-HS Port Arthur, Texas (Memorial HS)
TF Andy Martel S 6-1 195 Fr.-HS Richmond, Texas (Foster HS)
TF King Newton DT 6-1 260 Fr.-HS Southlake, Texas (Carroll HS)
TF Zach Pare(**) OT 6-6 275 Fr.-HS Georgetown, Texas (East View HS)
TF Alex Snow C 6-3 290 Fr.-HS League City, Texas (Clear Lake HS)
TF Halen Steward RB 5-10 255 Fr.-HS St. Augustine, Fla. (Menendez HS)
TF Josiah Tauaefa DE 6-2 245 Fr.-HS Corinth, Texas (Lake Dallas HS)
TF Brett Winnegan RB 5-9 175 Fr.-HS Pearland, Texas (Dawson HS)

79 RS Anzaldua, David OT 6-6 330 Fr. Edinburg, Texas (North HS)
10 TF Austin III, Carl S 6-1 180 Fr. Austin, Texas (St. Stephen’s Episcopal HS)
4 RS Bogenschutz, Blake QB 6-1 180 Fr. Carthage, Texas (Carthage HS)
78 TF Brooks, Joseph DT 6-1 190 Fr. San Angelo, Texas (Central HS)
10 RS Campbell Jr., Greg WR 6-1 195 Fr. Humble, Texas (Atascocita HS)
23 RS Crossland, Triston TE 6-3 200 Fr. Corpus Christi, Texas (Calallen HS)
3 RS Dye Jr., Stanley CB 5-10 170 Fr. Orange Park, Fla. (Ridgeview HS)
6 TF Henderson, Jaylon QB 6-2 200 Fr. Kingwood, Texas (Park HS)
85 TF Moorhead, Blaze WR 6-0 175 Fr. Fort Worth, Texas (All Saints HS)
80 RS Oliver, Cameron TE 6-5 230 Fr. Owasso, Okla. (Owasso HS)
28 RS Rhodes, Jalen RB 5-9 185 Fr. Rowlett, Texas (Rowlett HS)
16 TF Santos, Isaiah S 6-4 180 Fr. Spring, Texas (Klein Collins HS)
54 RS Strong Jr., Kevin DT 6-3 285 Fr. Cleveland, Texas (Cleveland HS)
35 RS Todd, Justin LB 6-0 200 Fr. Orange Park, Fla. (Oakleaf HS)
52 TF Wickline, Kelby OT 6-5 245 Fr. Stillwater, Okla. (Stillwater HS)
50 TF Woods, Clayton C 6-3 280 Fr. Dallas, Texas (Highland Park HS)

Sophomores (16):

24 Bailey, N'Keal CB 5-11 175 So. Frisco, Texas (Princeton HS)
49 Bayliss, Matt DS 6-7 210 So. Tulsa, Okla. (Holland Hall HS)
9 Cavil, Dannon WR 6-4 215 So. San Antonio, Texas (Oklahoma)
30 Chavez, Justin S 5-10 195 So. Irving, Texas (MacArthur HS)
71 Cole, Cody OG 6-5 290 So. Fort Myers, Fla. (Bishop Verot HS)
53 Curry, Marcos LB 5-11 210 So. Round Rock, Texas (Stony Point HS)
74 Darragh, Reed OT 6-4 290 So. Buda, Texas (Hays HS)
93 Davenport, Marcus DE 6-6 215 So. San Antonio, Texas (Stevens HS)
11 Gaines, Nate S 6-2 175 So. Mesquite, Texas (Poteet HS)
6 Henricks, Aneas CB 5-11 175 So. Bastrop, Texas (Bastrop HS)
4 Jupe, Austin S 6-1 205 So. San Antonio, Texas (Baylor)
67 McKinney, Kyle OG 6-4 310 So. Boerne, Texas (Champion HS)
60 Perez, Juan C 6-2 270 So. North Richland Hills, Texas (Birdville HS)
3 Robinson, Austin QB 6-3 220 So. Houston, Texas (Episcopal HS)
17 Taylor, Aron WR 6-1 200 So. San Antonio, Texas (Warren HS)
7 Thomas Jr., Kerry WR 6-0 200 So. College Station, Texas (A&M Consolidated HS)

Juniors (15):

Gabe Casillas OT 6-5 280 Jr.-TR Chula Vista, Calif. (Eastlake HS/Southwestern [Calif.] JC)
JaBryce Taylor WR 6-2 215 Jr.-TR Lufkin, Texas (Lufkin HS/SMU/Navarro [Texas] JC)
Kelvin “Shaq” Williams TE 6-6 250 Jr.-TR Madison, Miss. (Central HS/Southwest Mississippi JC)

42 Bass, La'Kel LB 6-1 230 Jr. St. Louis, Mo. (Hutchinson [Kan.] CC)
94 Brooks, Codie DE 6-1 250 Jr. Seguin, Texas (Seguin HS)
33 Dahlquist, Chase S 6-0 195 Jr. Tulsa, Okla. (Union HS)
8 Egwuagu, Michael S 6-0 215 Jr. Pflugerville, Texas (Connally HS)
43 Kane, Ben DE 6-4 240 Jr. West Covina, Calif. (Citrus [Calif.] JC)
97 King-Williams, Vontrell DT 6-2 325 Jr. Chicago, Ill. (Bulter [Kan.] CC)
56 Miller, Dalton LB 5-11 220 Jr. San Antonio, Texas (Warren HS)
87 Stevens, Trevor TE 6-4 245 Jr. Friendswood, Texas (Friendswood HS)
75 Tuiolosega, Jonathan DT 6-1 290 Jr. Seaside, Calif. (Monterey [Calif.] Peninsula JC)
13 Vaughn, Brian RB 5-6 185 Jr. Fort Worth, Texas (All Saints HS)
5 White, Corbin RB 5-11 225 Jr. Nettleton, Miss. (Northeast Mississippi JC)
2 Williams, Jarveon RB 5-9 200 Jr. Converse, Texas (Judson HS)

Seniors (13):

26 Baker, Trevor CB 6-2 195 Sr. Prather, Calif. (Fresno [Calif.] CC)
81 Bias, Kenny WR 6-1 180 Sr. San Antonio, Texas (Stevens HS)
63 Cavanaugh, William OG/C 6-1 300 Sr. New Braunfels, Texas (Canyon HS)
32 Douglas, Drew LB 6-1 230 Sr. Garland, Texas (Sachse HS)
45 Eddins, Justyn DE 6-3 250 Sr. Newhall, Calif. (College of the Canyons [Calif])
70 Gray, Jordan OT 6-2 260 Sr. Fort Worth, Texas (Trimble Tech HS)
88 Grubb, Aaron WR 5-8 170 Sr. La Vernia, Texas (La Vernia HS)
66 Hester, Zach OT 6-4 315 Sr. Houston, Texas (Aldine HS)
82 Morgan II, David TE 6-4 250 Sr. Marble Falls, Texas (Marble Falls HS)
96 Neill, Jason DT 6-2 260 Sr. Flower Mound, Texas (Marcus HS)
21 Okotcha, Bennett CB 6-0 195 Sr. Coppell, Texas (Oklahoma)
91 Price, Brian DT 6-3 310 Sr. Lafayette, Ind. (Hancock [Calif.] JC)
25 Sanchez, Mauricio S 6-0 200 Sr. San Antonio, Texas (Warren HS)
This post was edited on 3/5 6:15 PM by mac78251

Robison is a stud defensive end from Judson. Has offers from Texas Tech, Houston, and Okohoma State. He tells me UTSA has not been in contact with him. He also says he would welcome an offer from the Roadrunners.
This post was edited on 3/4 9:31 PM by JaviUTSA

Gameday! Tip off tonight is 7pm.
We need big performances tonight for a win and to ride on a good momentum going into Saturday.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

UTSA finishes out its regular season at home this week with games against Rice & UNT. This year's squad has shown us that, at its best, they can hang with just about any team in the conference. On the other hand, we've seen the Roadrunners pull 180s and tank against teams that they are more than capable of destroying. It's tough to gauge how our squad will finish this season when the one thing they been consistent on is their inconsistency on the floor. Dominating first halves of play followed up by flat performances and inability to close out games have plagued this team all year.

Not all is bad though. Our guys have proved that they are better than a bottom of the conference team most projected they would be. Two of our seniors have had breakout years. Hill will go down as one of the best players in UTSA basketball history. This year he claimed the #1 spot all-time in rebounds, #3 all-time scoring and has had a nice collection of double-doubles. Kaj Sherman is a different player than I ever anticipated he would be. His contributions on the floor have been what most would want out of their front court. Keon's game at the point has become one that we are not accustomed to seeing. An unselfish, ball distributing and shot making Keon showed up late and surprised us all. We still get flashes of the old Keon every now and then but it seems he has opened up and learned to trust the other four guys on the court. Newcomers like Bowie and Wilson have provided a well needed spark on and off the bench. Bowie (Jr.) will be a huge asset to next year's team and may end up being our oldest guy on the roster. Getting the playing time that he's had this year is great exposure and shows us that the coaches have confidence in his game.

We need UTSA to gut it out and finish strong. The lowest seed UTSA can go is 8th; highest 6th. In order to secure the 6th seed UTSA need to protect home court and win both games in conjunction with MT & UNT dropping both of their remaining games. MT has FIU and FAU lined up this week so the probability of them bombing those games is slim but its MARCH and you never know what will happen in college hoops. UNTs got UTEP on deck before they come to the Convo. For UTSA to get the 7th seed they'll need to win both games this week and UNT to fall against UTEP (likely).

First up for UTSA is Rice on Thursday. Rice (7-9 CUSA) handed UTSA an embarrassing loss in the first game of conference play. Aside from that, they've displayed an up-and-down season with a couple of notable wins against conference studs WKU and UAB. No doubt in my mind that we can take Rice convincingly. We are a completely different team compared to the one that Rice faced back in January.

Last is UNT on Saturday. This is the tougher of the two, in my opinion. UTSA bounced back from the loss to Rice and handed UNT a 71-61 loss on their home floor. UNT (8-8 CUSA) was on a 5 game win streak before they lost against UAB on Saturday. UNT has shown their growth as a team and dished out L's to LaTech, UAB and MT. UNT sits at #5 in field goal percentage with hitting 44% of their shots.

Winning these two games will not be easy but it's not out of UTSAs reach to do so. Defense wins games. UTSA can avoid the necessity of late game heroics by doing a better job of defending that ball. Staying in front of the play and defending without fouling for two complete halves is going to be key. The squad has given teams the freedom to go on these late game runs without matching the same intensity defensively. UTSA will have its shooting slumps but if we can put together two halves of solid defense they'll be giving themselves a better chance of getting back into the game with a lot less effort.

Hopefully some of y'all can make it out this week. It'll be a bitter sweet moment to see Jermoie, one of UTSAs greats, play ball on his home court for the last time. GO RUNNERS!!!!!!







This post was edited on 3/4 12:51 AM by Pist0lPet3

Thank you as always for the questions. Feel free to post thoughts, disagreements for follow-up questions in here.

The Mailbag

Here are my top five questions for UTSA football heading into spring practice.

Questions

UTSA running back Treston Coleman is no longer with the program, UTSA has confirmed.

Richmond Foster defensive back has picked up an offer. Holds an offer from Houston.

"UTSA was a beautiful campus. I loved coach Coker and safety coach Perry Eliano," Rosette said. "I loved the family structure. It was my first time down there but my teammate (UTSA signee Andy Martel) is always talking about how much he loves UTSA and Birdsup and all that. He is always in my ear."

Rosette said he wants to make a decision before his senior season begins and that whatever school he picks will be the one he sticks with. He indicated he'd like to make a decision by the end of spring if he felt comfortable enough with a school.

"It'd be nice to get it over with and out of the way so I can concentrate on football and not recruiting," he said. "Houston is near me so that is a plus but I don't care about that too much. I just want to play football in Texas, so leaving Houston is an option."

UTSA sees Rosette as a free safety.

"I think I could do really well in UTSA's system because the 4-2-5 is great for safeties," he said. "I think I bring a lot of aggressiveness to the position and come downhill really well. I want to work on my hip flexibility and getting better at reading coverage."
This post was edited on 3/1 1:21 PM by Mike Craven

Fire away.

How UTSA plays with the numbers and positions will be very interesting this cycle. We'll have a better understanding of what positions they want to fill most after offers start going out. That is usually a very good indicator of what value each position has in the class. My early guess is:

QB: 0
RB: 2
WR: 1
TE: 1
OL: 3
DL: 3
LB: 2
S: 2
CB: 1

That would be 15 total. If the class can be bigger than that I'd add a wide receiver and a cornerback if possible.

2016 recruiting

UTSA baseball fell apart in Louisiana vs McNeese State losing all three games. It's hard to believe that anyone saw this coming. If the series was played again, I would bet the outcome would be much different. Regardless, UTSA falls to 6-5 (0-4 on the road) and there are a lot of questions about this 2015 team.



Game 1[/B]: The Friday game kicked off at 4pm and early on we saw UTSA strong play continue. In the 3rd inning, UTSA was able to jam the bases and earn 3 runs after a HBP RBI on Bormann, a bases loaded walk from Skyler Valentine and a RBI single by CJ Pickering. (3-0) Brock Hartson was pitching well and was arguably having his best game of the season. In the sixth inning, things began to fall apart for UTSA. Hartson allowed three quick hits on 5 pitches and UTSA was suddenly in trouble. To his credit, I don't believe the UTSA coaching staff was ready to make a change. They quickly tried to get Herbelin and Kirby up and running in the bullpen and even called a stalling mound visit but the bases loaded jam just happened too quickly for anyone to anticipate. Herbelin was called in to make the stop but ended up giving up a few unearned runs giving McNeese a 2 run lead. (3-5) Despite the misstep, UTSA was able to draw even in the 8th after once again loading the bases and earning back to back RBI walks from Hilston and Bormann. Chance Kirby came into the game in the 7th and was fantastic. The freshman continues to be one of the best arms out of the bullpen. In the bottom of the 10th, McNesse ended the game on a walk off single. Kirby earned the loss but his performance opened up a lot of eyes as he only allowed 2 hits in 3.2 innings.

Final score: UTSA 5, McNeese St 6 (10)

Chance Kirby L (1-1)

Notable Stats:
Hartson: 5 IP, 7 hits, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Kirby: 3.2 IP, 2 hits 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Bormann: 0-3, 2 RBIs, 1 BB, 1 K
CJ Pickering: 2-5, 1 RBI, 3 Ks, 1 SB
Bowles: 3-5 (2 Doubles), 1 Run, 2 Ks

Game 2[/B]: Losing in extra innings was hard to swallow especially when UTSA had several shots to take a commanding lead. Game 2 had a lot of promise. Kevin Markham was back starting at DH and Jesse Baker and Logan Onda would make their first appearances of the 2015 season following their suspensions. UTSA pitching suffered early. Nolan Trabanino was pulled after 1.2 IP after allowing 6 hits. Relief pitching did not fare much better, allowing 10 more hits of the course of the game for a total of 16 total hits. Despite the hitting clinic on behalf of McNesse, UTSA remained in striking distance throughout the course of the game and only allowed 4 runs to score. The real story of this game was the amazing pitching performance by McNesse State's Bryce Kingsley. Kingsley was impossible to crack for UTSA hitters. In fact, it wasn't until the 8th inning that UTSA was able to chip into the lead. Kingsley's final line was 7 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB and 5 K's. The ever dangerous, Kevin Markham was finally able to get UTSA on the board in the 8th on a RBI triple and scored the very next play on a groundout by Hilston. (2-4) Unfortunately, UTSA ran out of time just as they were starting to inflict damage on McNeese.

Final Score: UTSA 2, McNeese St 4

Nolan Trabanino L (0-2)

Notable Stats:
Logan Onda: 4 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Markham: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 Run
Straub: 3-4
Bowles: 1-2, 1 Run, 1 BB

Game 3[/B]: With McNeese clinching the series, UTSA now had their backs against the wall and was aiming to prevent the sweep in the double header on Saturday. Cody Brannon was great throughout his 5 innings of work and UTSA finally was able to keep up with McNesse in hits throughout the course of the game. The Cowboys struck first in the 1st inning with a RBI single and it was all UTSA after that until the 7th inning. In the 3rd, Kevin Markham was able to bring Sklyer Valentine in on a shot to center field. (1-1) Tyler Straub was able to score John Borman in the 4th on a ground out (2-1) and Valentine earned a sac fly in the top of the 7th to bring in Geonte Jackson (3-1) McNeese was able to deal the final blow in the B7 earning 3 runs on reliever Patrick Herbelin who had a rare bad day. (3-4) UTSA lost another close game, this one cementing a sweep

Final score: UTSA 3, McNeese St 4

Patrick Herbelin L (2-1)

Notable Stats:
Brannon: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Herbelin: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB
Jackson: 2-4, 1 Run
Markham: 1-4, 1 RBI
Valentine: 1-2, 1 RBI, 1 Run

Analysis[/B]: Even though you have to credit McNeese State on the sweep, UTSA should have had this series, especially considering that every game was decided on 2 runs or less. With the amount of missed opportunities, the 3 losses earned on Friday and Saturday have to be hard to swallow. Game 1 was one of the worst performances from UTSA. UTSA batters recorded a season high 15 strikeouts and left 11 runners on base. 15 strikeouts. In a 1 run loss, those kinds of stats can really paint the picture of how this team struggled. Game 2 was a complete team loss. UTSA pitchers gave up 16 hits throughout the course of the game. Losing Trabanino in the 2nd inning hurt but the relief pitching staff could not limit the offense from the Cowboys. UTSA batters limited their strikeouts but missed several opportunities to seal this game from McNeese. Part of issue was the stellar play from Bryce Kingsley but the main issue was UTSA's inability to bring in runs when the leadoff man reached base. In fact, UTSA was able to get their leadoff man on base in 4 consecutive innings (5th-8th) but were unable to advance the runner on all attempts. The final game of the series was shaping up to be a salvaging win for UTSA until the 7th inning. McNeese had a fantastic inning at the plate and UTSA was not able to recover and provide run support for the UTSA pitching. This was undoubtedly a tough series for UTSA and one that they would like to have back. This UTSA team is a fantastic ball club overall but in this series the issues were prevalent and impossible to overcome.

Pitching[/B] - One of the biggest concerns going forward for UTSA is the starting pitching. There have been flashes of great performances but overall, the starting pitching needs to improve in order for UTSA to be successful in future series. If I had to gauge UTSA's starting series pitching, I think we are definitely getting the best from Cody Brannon. Hartson has been improving and hopefully will be the ace UTSA needs him to be by conference play. Nolan Trabanino is really struggling. Coming off a fantastic 2014 campaign, UTSA will really need Trabanino to improve and take the pressure off the bullpen. As far as the relief pitching is concerned I think UTSA should be a good place. Logan Onda retuned on Saturday, and although he was hit a bit, it was his first game in 2015. Onda should add depth and experience into the pen. Patrick Herbelin has been phenomenal. Game 3 was his only real stumble but expect Herbelin to continue to be one of Marshall's favorite arms out of the bullpen. I've really been impressed with Chance Kirby. The freshman is showing a lot of poise every time he is called on to pitch. We should see Kirby a lot going forward and possibly as a starter in 2016. With Boone Morky returning it will be interesting to see if Marshall keeps Aaron Burns as a starter. If not, Burns had been fantastic out of the bullpen and would just add to the depth of this team. Nolan Savage, Jeremey Filipek, Hodgson and Shrewcraft should also be regulars throughout the season.

Hitting[/B] - This has definitely been the nice surprise for UTSA thus far into the season. The new faces like Markham, Straub, Hilston, Bowles have been fantastic overall. Additionally, UTSA fans have to be happy with the improved hitting from guys like John Bormann and CJ Pickering. Jesse Baker returned during game 2 of this series. Baker did not record a hit, but UTSA will need to rely on his strong bat going forward. This team will still need the presence of Ho Correa. Once he returns he should add more stability to the lineup.

RPI watch[/B]: It's still early, but UTSA RPI fell to 187/287 after the sweep. UTSA has a lot of work to do to return into the 100's. UTSA was once in the low 40s

Next up is Texas A&M- Corpus Christi on Tuesday at Roadrunner Field (6:30) This game is a must win for the Roadrunners

According to his Twitter page, Marble Falls offensive tackle Ryan Becker was offered by UTSA. It is his first D1 offer. He is from the same high school as David Morgan. He's a little light for an OT, but definitely an athletic player with the frame to add more weight.
This post was edited on 3/1 9:04 PM by Mike Craven

Story

Road series this week.

Baseball

UTSA (13-13, 7-8 CUSA) at LaTech (22-7, 13-3 CUSA), 6pm tip.

Not much has changed with respects to LaTech since our first outing against them. LaTech has won 10 of their last 13 and recently claimed the top spot in CUSA with only three days of regular season ball left to play. If you're one of those peeps who don't regularly follow the game until closer to tourney time, here's what to expect from LaTech today:

LaTech is extremely quick in transition. After securing a defensive rebound their guys are always looking up-court and pushing the ball. You can forget the pull up mid-range J or square up pop shot from outside with these guys. Whether it's a lob to the man riding the baseline for the dunk or just straight hard drive down the middle, LaTech attacks in transition.
In half-court play, they have guys that can consistently hit shots from any spot on the floor. They are an unselfish team and move the ball extremely well. LaTech is led by Raheem Appleby (15.6ppg) and Alex Hamilton (15.7ppg). Michale Kyser is another guy who moves well without the ball and is rewarded with lobs for easy dunks inside.

They play with great intensity on the defensive side as well. Their athleticism allows them to contest shots inside despite any size disadvantage. Good speed and crisp switches on coverage make them a tough team to score against. LaTech is also know to switch up inbound play and press the ball early.

So…what's it going to take for UTSA to steal this game? Perfection.

Early reports are that UTSA will be without a key piece of their offense tonight. Kaj did not play against S. Miss on Thursday due to lower back issues and is questionable for tonight. This is the same injury that sidelined him for a couple of games last year. Kaj is averaging 12ppg and 7 boards this season. Missing him from tonight's game would be a huge blow for UTSA. If Kaj ends up sitting this one out I would expect a heavy rotation between O'Brien, Ringholt and Jones. All three of them will need to be aggressive offensively taking advantage of any scoring opportunities they get. The majority of the pressure will be on Jeromie tonight. He's been one of our most consistent players all year. Hill may play a little closer in the block than usual if Kaj doesn't play tonight. One disadvantage of having Hill play low inside is that our perimeter scoring decreases tremendously. Keon Lewis and Ryan Bowie's on court success has been a nice surprise this year and are averaging 15 and 13 ppg, respectively. We'll need both those guy's to contribute at least double-digits in tonight's game.

LaTech is good at the one thing UTSA has been horrible defending all year, the 3-ball. The high PnR and high screens are going to have to be played tight. Our guards are going to have to fight through the screens and give their shooters little to no space to rise and shoot. LaTech also ran a good number of high PnR against us and got several mismatches for easy dunks inside. O'Brien, Ringholt, and Jones will have to anticipate those plays and be ready for the switch or to roll back.
Another tough match-up for UTSA tonight will be the home crowd. LaTech is riding a 27 win-streak at home. A win tonight would almost guarantee a regular season title for LaTech so the crowd will definitely be into this game.

Best of luck to our guy's tonight! GO RUNNERS!!!

He is no longer with program.

These are the types of games UTSA needs to win going away to take that next step.

This article came out last week; Briggs reported that UTSA plans to "fully fund" cost of attendance grants after all:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/utsa/article/Hickey-says-UTSA-to-fully-fund-cost-of-6087911.php

Here are some names to monitor going into junior day.

Junior Day

At 6'4 200lbs Zach plays OLB & SS for Pleasanton.


Zach Smith - Junior Highlights

Hey everyone, this Friday 5 stones will put tickets on sale for the March 27th open house. This event is part of San Antonio Beer week. Check out the face book page and on Friday there will be a link for eventbrite to get your tickets. Tickets will be $10 a person. There will be around 13 beers to try at the event. Also Slider Provider food truck will be out. Hope everyone can make it out. Tickets do go fast.