Champion grad contributes as UTSA baseball program has historic season
The UTSA baseball team just wrapped up its best season in school history and a Boerne Champion graduate had a role in their success.
Jordan Ballin, a 2024 graduate of Champion, worked his way into a starting spot with the Roadrunners and helped the team finish with a school-record 47 wins and reach the super regionals for the first time. They were two victories shy of playing at this year’s College World Series.
Not bad for a freshman, who just wanted to see the field on occasion in his first year with the program.
“I was just hoping to get a grasp of what college baseball is like, and I knew I would have to put in the work to prove that I belonged,” he said. “I was just hoping to get in some games, but if I didn’t play it was no big deal, but if I did play, I wanted to make the most of those opportunities.”
And boy, did he make the most of his chances.
Ballin moved into the starting spot at second base in March and said the best thing about the whole situation was that all the players were cheering for each other regardless of who was on the field.
The guy he took minutes from, Diego Diaz, was always encouraging, according to Ballin.
“He’s kind of like a mentor to me even though he’s only one year ahead of me. We pull for each other and there are no hard feelings,” Ballin said. “When I’m in or he’s in, we’re just about the team. Our camaraderie was off the charts. We want the best for each other, but we make each other earn it.”
Ballin said the key was to always be ready.
“You go through warmups and pregame like you’re going to play the whole game,” he said. “You go to the field expecting to play one game and you don’t, and sometimes you’re not expecting to play and you do. You have to be ready to go whenever.”
TURNING POINT
Ballin said he felt like the turning point for the program came on March 4, when they went down to Texas A&M and defeated the Aggies in College Station, 7-4.
After that, the team was beaming with confidence, and that swagger helped them defeat the University of Texas on March 18, in 12 innings, 8-7.
The Roadrunners went on to win the American Athletic Conference regular season title and then received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time ever.
But the historic moments didn’t stop there. UTSA went on to win the Austin Regional and defeated the No. 2 seeded Longhorns twice at the tourney to advance to the Super Regionals for the first time.
The Roadrunners went 4-0 against the Longhorns and Aggies this past season.
“Beating teams like A&M and Texas showed us that we do belong here, we can compete with any other school around us, even the prestigious schools,” Ballin said. “We may not have the 98-mile-per hour arms that others have or the home run ability, but we compete and we’re hungry and dedicated.”
Ballin said the best thing about playing in the Austin regionals was that it was close to San Antonio, so a good contingent of Roadrunner fans made the trip, including Ballin’s family members.
“Our fans brought that energy to UT and played a factor in our wins,” he said. “Our fans were just as loud as those cheering for UT.”
Once they got to the Super Regionals, the Roadrunners were swept by UCLA, but despite not winning a single game against the Bruins, Ballin said they gave it all they had.
UTSA scored the first two runs in the best-of-three series but then didn’t score the rest of the way as the Bruins went on to advance to the College World Series.
“It definitely felt like a big stage, and we didn’t play like we wanted to against them, but we gave it our best shot,” he said. “I was happy with what we accomplished. We were two wins away from going to Omaha (for the College World Series).”
After UTSA was eliminated, Ballin attended a post-game press conference with his coach and teammates and became very emotional. That video of Ballin tearing up led most of the local TV sportscasts that night.
“All the memories started coming back, it kind of all hit at that moment,” Ballin said. “We were bummed and sad that it came to an end, but I think those emotions were us being thankful and about the process of getting there. I was full of gratitude.”
IT’S A NUMBERS GAME
Ballin finished the year with a .333 batting average and his .541 on base percentage tied him for third best in the nation for the 2025 season.
His .541 OBP meant Ballin was getting on base more than half the time. He did take 41 walks and was hit by pitch 16 times and said his whole goal when he bats is to not strike out.
“It stems back from high school; I always had a mindset of ‘don’t strikeout.’ If you have that mindset and put the ball in play, you have a chance to get on base. A strikeout is huge to me, but you can only control what you can control. I just stay aggressive.”
Maybe the most impressive thing about his numbers is that Ballin played part of the season with a broken bone in his throwing hand.
At some point, Ballin broke the hamate bone on his right hand, which is located on the lower, outside edge of the hand. At first, he had a hairline fracture but kept playing through the pain and ended up with a two-to-three-millimeter break. He took a cortisone shot and rested when he could but when the pain didn’t go away, he had it x-rayed, and they found the break.
Ballin’s original plan was to play this summer in a collegiate league with the Victoria Generals, but he ditched those plans and will have surgery soon and use the rest of the summer to rehab. He hopes to be at full strength by the time the Roadrunners start fall ball.
ADJUSTING TO COLLEGE BALL
Ballin was a two-sports star at Champion. He was the Chargers starting quarterback for three seasons and played all four years on the varsity baseball team and was the Team MVP his freshman year.
During his junior season, he helped lead the Chargers to the state baseball tournament for their deepest run ever, and now he’s helped the Roadrunners do the same thing with their best season in school history.
“I’ve been blessed,” he said of his success.
Ballin is majoring in Kinesiology at UTSA and would like to be a physical therapist at the major league level, but before that, he wants to try his hand at playing professionally when he’s done with college.
“I’d like to pursue a baseball career,” he said. “That’s definitely the goal and it’s doable.”
Ballin said the biggest difference between college and high school baseball is the speed of the game and the skill level of the players.
“The biggest adjustment is the pace of play with a pitch clock and other rules that don’t affect high school,” he said. “I had to adjust to the speed of the game because pitchers are throwing 10 miles per hour faster than in high school.
“The guys are faster and everybody here is good. It’s hard to find those holes in teams, especially with the pitching,” he said. “The defense is really good, and the coaches have been there and know the game.”
NOT GOING ANYWHERE, ANYTIME SOON
Ballin says he loves UTSA and hasn’t even considered transferring at this point, especially after their coach, Pat Hallmark, just signed a contract extension through the 2029 season.
“I don’t see myself getting into the (transfer) portal at all. It wouldn’t make sense with the run that we had,” he said. “Now that Hallmark has extended his contract, I don’t see a need right now. The portal is beyond what I’m thinking right now, it’s not one of my worries.”
Ballin said he loves playing for Hallmark and added that the coach was honest with him from the beginning. He said Hallmark never made any false promises to him.
“At the beginning of the year he told me, ‘I think you are capable of playing middle infield and if you can produce, you can play,’” Ballin said. “I took those words to heart. At first it was up and down, I would play sometimes and sometimes I would sit for a long time, but I just focused on being the best teammate I could be.”
Now that Hallmark is locked up for the next few years, Ballin said he hopes the school administration will work on upgrading the baseball facilities at UTSA.
“It doesn’t have to look like UT or A&M, but I think there are some areas that we can spend money on to get it to where it needs to be,” he said. “It’s not in bad shape and I don’t have a problem with our field, but you can always get something better. Hopefully the steps being made will be able to get it to a Texas State type capacity.”
UTSA had a lot of their postseason games broadcast on national television, and Ballin said he hopes the recent spotlight brings in top talent, along with more fans in the stands, which means more money for the program.
“I think we put UTSA baseball on the map and hopefully it’ll help with NIL (name, image, likeness) money and we can draw a bigger fan base,” he said. “I hope baseball players will see what UTSA baseball is about.”
As he enters his sophomore year, Ballin said the goal is to build on last year’s historic season. The program took a huge leap in 2025, and he wants to continue to raise the bar for the Roadrunners.
“We’ve set a standard for the years to come; winning a regional championship puts another chip on our shoulders because we know what it takes to get there now,” he said. “I think this past year was a huge blessing and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’m blessed to be able to get the opportunities that I had.”
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