Baseball vs UTSA: Open Thread

Texas continues its tour of Conference USA as the UTSA Roadrunners come to the flagship campus tonight for a midweek contest, and they're riding high after taking two of three from Louisiana-Lafayette to open the season. Lafayette was considered an Omaha favorite last season heading into the Tournament, winning their home-hosted regional and taking the first game of the Lafayette super regional before surrendering two straight to Ole Miss, sending the Rebels to the CWS instead. This year's Cajuns are not considered nearly as strong as the squad that went 58-10 last year, but it's still a nice season-opening series victory for UTSA.

The Roadrunners took advantage of the new baseballs last weekend, popping six home runs in the three games. Early returns indicate Longhorn pitchers should be careful with Kevin Markham and John Bormann, each of whom contributed a pair of dingers and combined to go 9-for-21 on the weekend.

San Antonio will throw junior righty Aaron Burns, who makes his D-1 debut tonight after transferring from Temple Junior College. He comes off a season with 15 appearances, 13 of them starts, and a 9-2 record at the JuCo level. Impressively, he finished seven of those starts for complete games. You can count on Burns doing everything he can to beat the Longhorns and thereby make an argument for a spot in the Roadrunners' weekend rotation.

Texas will counter will freshman Connor Mayes, who threw one inning in relief at Rice. Mayes is a local boy from Lake Travis High School who went 11-0 with a 0.69 ERA and 90 strikeouts as a senior last year. He, too, will look to make a case for himself on the weekend rotation--and after the weekend at Rice, it would appear at least one spot is up for grabs.

First pitch is at 6:05 on Longhorn Network, so you can watch at least the first two hours before the basketball game. This is your open thread. Hook 'em!