Three hundred and thirty-eight days ago, the UTSA Roadrunners shocked the Texas Longhorns with an upset in the Austin regional final to end an otherwise impressive first season for head coach Jim Schlossnagle on the Forty Acres.
On Tuesday, the No. 4 Longhorns (35-15) host the Roadrunners (33-14) at UFCU Disch-Falk Field for the first time since that 7-4 victory by Pat Hallmark’s team as both programs battle for postseason positioning.
With a 15-6 conference record, UTSA leads the American and boasts
the nation’s No. 38 RPI thanks to a resume that includes a BRUCE BOLT College Classic win over then-No. 9 Coastal Carolina, a win over Baylor, a win over Texas Tech, a series victory against South Florida, and a sweep of Dallas Baptist.
Riding a four-game winning streak, the Roadrunners enter the midweek matchup with some momentum generated by the first conference sweep of the season against the Shockers over the weekend, their 18th straight American series win.
A strong offense fuels the nation’s No. 20 winning percentage for UTSA, which ranks in the top 30 nationally with 500 hits (19th), 14 triples (27th) a .431 on-base percentage (7th), 417 total runs scored (7th), 34 sacrifice flies (6th), a .312 batting average (14th), and 8.9 runs per game (10th), scoring at least 10 runs in 20 of 47 games this season. The Roadrunners have 16 multi-home run games and average more than one run per inning.
Five UTSA regular bat above .300 this season, led by outfielder Drew Detlefsen at .391. The preseason All-American selection also paces the Roadrunners with 13 home runs and 59 RBI. Another preseason All-American selection, catcher Andrew Stucky, is second on the team with 10 home runs while batting .301. First baseman Caden Miller is slashing .376/.516/.624 from the leadoff spot with a team-high 13 stolen bases.
The Roadrunners have not named a starter yet.
Texas enters its final Tuesday game of the 2026 season without an established fourth starter as the postseason looms, a disappointing development considering that hope that Schlossnagle put in freshman right-hander Michael Winter when he returned from a month-long absence due to illness in April.
Since his return, Winter hasn’t been able to establish a rhythm on the mound, missing a planned start against Air Force due to rain and only getting one out in his two other starts while allowing six total earned runs on five hits with two walks.
Winter’s struggles forced Texas to mount comeback victories against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Sam Houston, forcing Schlossnagle to make a decision about whether to go with Winter again or turn to another midweek pitcher like junior left-hander Kade Bing.
The Longhorns are also trying to build up freshman center fielder Maddox Monsour, whose speed gives him high-level range in the outfield and the ability to make an impact on the base paths. In those two areas, Monsour is confident, but it hasn’t fully translated to the batter’s box yet.
“Maddox has elite physical skills in terms of running, throwing, multiple positions, and he’s in the process of building the confidence that it takes to really thrive in those moments,” Schlossnagle said on Monday.
One positive sign for Monsour during the weekend series against Mississippi State was successfully putting a bunt down, a freedom that Schlossnagle afford his players with no one on base. But Monsour is still only hitting .214 this year, so any impact he can provide at the plate would be a positive for Texas.
With a three-game losing streak against the Roadrunners that includes the two losses in last year’s regional, Texas looks for its first win over UTSA since 2020 at 6:30 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
