CLEARWATER, Fla. – No. 1 seed UTSA made an impactful tournament debut on Friday afternoon, cooling off red-hot No. 5 Memphis 4-0 in the top seed’s opening game at the 2026 American Baseball Championship at BayCare Ballpark.
The Roadrunners (37-19) advance to face No. 2 East Carolina on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET in the winner’s bracket, with the victor of that game reaching the American title game on Sunday afternoon. Memphis (24-33) will return to face No. 7 Wichita State approximately 47 minutes following game seven of the tournament in an elimination game on Friday evening.
After an even first two innings, UTSA was the first team to break through on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third frame. Aidan Eshelman led off with a double down the left field line and advanced to third base on a subsequent groundout. Conference player of the year Drew Detlefsen ripped a 1-1 pitch into the gap in left center to score Eshelman and give the Roadrunners a 1-0 lead.
Following a 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning for conference pitcher of the year Conor Myles (10-1), UTSA added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Jordan Ballin picked up a two-out base hit to right field to keep the UTSA half going, and Christian Hallmark delivered with an RBI double to right field that brought Ballin all the way home from first base for the 2-0 UTSA advantage.
A one-out triple down the right field line by UTSA’s Jacob Silva put the Roadrunners in scoring position once more in the bottom of the sixth. Ballin cashed in the RBI opportunity with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Silva and made it a 3-0 ballgame. Memphis starter Seth Garner (1-6) again limited the damage by inducing a groundout to second base that ended the threat.
More baserunners in the UTSA half of the seventh equaled another run. Following a hit by pitch drawn by Caden Miller and a walk issued to Luke Haworth, Andrew Stucky executed the hit and run to perfection through the right side to bring Miller in for the 4-0 Roadrunner lead. Memphis reliever Logan Rushing got out of trouble with an inning-ending strikeout to leave two aboard.
Myles surrendered two hits over five full innings of work on the mound for UTSA, walking four while striking out eight Memphis batters for his 10th win of the season. Connor Kelley added four shutout innings of his own, scattering three base hits with no walks and four strikeouts to secure his first save of 2026,
Garner allowed three earned runs on six hits over six innings for Memphis, walking two and striking out two in defeat.