UTSA baseball (10-3) was back in action this weekend with a three-game series against the Grambling State University Tigers (5-7) and a Monday night game against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (6-6). The Roadrunners were able to sweep the series over the Tigers behind dominant starting pitching performances by Slater Foust, Shane Daughety and Jacob Jimenez. Batting .800 in the series, Leyton Barry’s presence at the plate, secured four runs, one triple, two home runs, six Runners Batted In (RBIs) and three stolen bases. The Monday night game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi unfortunately was a sour ending to a solid week for the Roadrunners as a ninth inning rally fell short in a 7-6 loss.

The first game against the Tigers on Feb. 27 resulted in a 4-1 victory for the ‘Runners after a three-run second inning. Foust (3-0 1.93 Earned Run Average) was on the mound for the ‘Runners and turned in another six-inning performance in front of the home crowd, only allowing three hits, no runs, no walks and striking out three. This is the second consecutive home game for Foust in which he threw at least six innings of shutout ball.

“At other places in my head I’m like, I just wanna show out and kinda [upset] the other team, but at home it’s like, I want to do it for these people, and it’s really fun,” Foust said in response to being asked why pitching at home agreed with him so well.

Game two against the Tigers resulted in an offensive showcase by the ‘Runners who walked away with the 17-4 victory. Daughety (3-0 0.49 ERA) was on the mound for the ‘Runners and worked five scoreless innings. Barry was the main offensive engine on the day going 5-6 with two home runs, a triple and six RBIs, becoming the first UTSA player with five hits in a game since 2015 and falling a double short of hitting for the cycle.

“It was a great day to hit the ball, obviously, with the wind blowing the way it was, and I just tried to keep it simple and not do too much and, you know, good things happened,” Barry said.

The last game of the series on Feb. 29 was the cherry on top of the weekend series for the ‘Runners after a solid day offensively and with strong pitching performances. The ‘Runners came away with an 8-2 win. Jimenez (1-1 2.70 ERA) made his first start of the year and threw three scoreless innings while only allowing one hit and striking out five at the plate. The ‘Runners’ offense supplied five runs in the first inning, forcing the Tigers’ starter out of the game, and the ‘Runners’ pitching staff combined for 15 strikeouts between six different pitchers on the day.

The Roadrunners closed out their homestand on Monday night with a clash against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The ‘Runners jumped out to an early lead in the first inning off a throwing error, but it would not last. For the first time at home all season the UTSA pitching staff was unable to silence the opposing team’s bats. A 5-run fifth inning was too much to overcome, as the ‘Runners worked their way back from a 7-3 deficit only to fall short in the ninth, 7-6 after having the tying run on second with nobody out.

The ‘Runners will be on the road to face the University of Texas at Arlington-Mavericks (8-3) in Arlington from March 6-8. The Mavericks are 6-1 at home this year and rank 21st in the nation with a team ERA of 2.03. The ‘Runners will end their roadtrip on March 10 with a rivalry game in San Marcos against the Texas State University Bobcats (8-4). The Bobcats are currently ranked 79th in the nation, allowing only 7.09 hits per nine innings on the year.