UT Arlington Defeats Texas State
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ARLINGTON, Texas – Greg McCall homered twice as UT Arlington outlasted rival Texas State 11-7 Thursday night to open the final Sun Belt Conference series of the season.
The Mavericks extended their winning streak to a season-high five games, improving to 28-25 overall and 17-11 in the Sun Belt. UTA also snapped a four-game losing streak to Texas State, which included a three-game sweep to open the SBC season. The Bobcats (28-24, 16-12) dropped a game behind UTA in the league standings.
The series continues Friday at 6:30 p.m. back at Clay Gould Ballpark and ends Saturday with a 2 p.m. first pitch.
McCall (3-for-4) hit his first career grand slam during a five-run fifth inning and set a career-high with seven RBI, one short of the all-time UTA record. The senior catcher also took over the team lead in homers this season with 10.
UTA starter Daniel Milliman took advantage of the run support to run his record to a perfect 5-0. The senior right-hander allowed two runs in 6-plus innings on five hits, while striking out four.
The Mavericks broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the third. Ryan Bottger opened the inning with a single before Matt Shortall doubled to right-center. Shortall tied UTA single-season record for doubles at 23 with Andrew Kainer.
John Michael Twichell’s groundout scored Bottger to put UTA on the board. McCall launched
his ninth homer of the season to center, a two-run shot for a 3-0 lead.
UT Arlington broke the game open in the fifth, chasing Texas State starter Austen Williams. Shortall walked with the bases load before Shortall crushed the first pitch he saw from reliever Tyler Davenport over the right-field wall. McCall’s previous high for RBI (five) was set last season at New Mexico State.
The Bobcats came back with six runs in the seventh, two charged to Milliman and the other four to reliever Zach Hobbs.
The Mavericks loaded the bases again in the seventh and scored three runs to get some breathing room. Twichell forced one home with a walk, McCall had a run-scoring single and Levi Scott lofted a sac fly to center.
