After playing for Patrick Hallmark at UIW, Antonio Valdez and Taylor Smith reunited with their old coach this season, helping UTSA's top-25 surge.
UIW's Taylor Smith celebrates a play during an NCAA college baseball game against Central Arkansas, Friday, May 3, 2019, in San Antonio. After Baylor was eliminated two games into last year's Big 12 baseball tournament, Antonio Valdez decided to check on his old coach — UTSA baseball’s Patrick Hallmark.
For Smith, the qualities that make Hallmark “one of the best I’ve ever got to play for” were almost indescribable. Valdez called Hallmark’s approach “just the right way to play.” UTSA ranks 17th nationally in batting average at .315, paced by a .377 mark from Valdez. He also leads the Roadrunners with 16 stolen bases and a 1.115 OPS, edging Smith’s 1.114 mark. Valdez is the only UTSA player to start all 41 games this season, including 40 appearances at third base.
Valdez and Smith both started their college careers at UIW, where Hallmark’s two-year tenure in 2018 and 2019 produced the Cardinals’ only two winning seasons since the program began the transition to Division I.
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