UTA Baseball Defeats Abilene Christian
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ABILENE, Texas – A strong defensive performance coupled with timely hitting helped spur UT Arlington past Abilene Christian as the Mavericks allowed just three hits in a 3-1 decision at Crutcher Scott Field on Tuesday night.
Kyle Laberge (1-1) was solid in picking up his first career win as the freshman LHP went 5.2 innings giving up one hit, one earned run and three walks while striking out seven Wildcats.
“First of all I thought Laberge was really, really good tonight,” UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. “He got us almost into the sixth with seven strikeouts and one hit. He just got a little tired since he hasn’t pitched in a while, but that’s another guy that we can use on the weekend.”
In addition to the strong play of Laberge, UTA also received solid efforts from its relief pitchers in Daniel James, Zach Hobbs and Colin Tornberg. James and Hobbs combined to pitch 2.1 innings with two hits and no earned runs while Tornberg made his appearance in the ninth to notch his fourth save of the season.
UTA drew first blood in the game with a two-run second inning to take a
lead it would fail to relinquish. Travis Sibley, who was 3-of-6 this past weekend with two outs, continued his clutch play as he drove a ball down the left field line to bring across Brady Cox and Cody Farrell. Sibley ended the night 2-of-4 at the plate with two RBI and a pair of doubles.
The Mavericks continued to hit the ball well under pressure as their second run of the day came in the fourth inning with Christian Hollie’s two-out double to right center field that cleared the way for Dalton DeLeon to score.
Abilene Christian recorded a two-out score of its own in the sixth with a single to right field that brought in one run and cut UTA’s lead to two runs at 3-1.
The Mavericks (6-6, 2-1 SBC) hit .188 on the night compared to just .115 for the Wildcats (1-10, 1-2 SLC). The two teams will square off in the second game of a home-and-home series tomorrow night at Clay Gould Ballpark with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.
“We’re not near as offensive as last year,” Thomas added. “We’re not just going to line up and hit the ball over the park, but so far we haven’t seen a whole lot of teams that are doing that. It’s just a different club and we’re playing a lot of guys, mixing and matching and all of our guys know if they show up at the park that they have a chance to be in there in a crucial situation.”
One example of someone being called up late in the game was freshman RJ Williams who entered the game for the first time in the eighth inning and came up with a big play in the ninth that helped seal the Mavs victory. With a runner on first with one out, ACU hit a deep shot to right field that looked as though it would be a base hit and give the Wildcats a chance at the victory. However, Williams showed great speed and athleticism in running down the ball to make the catch to help the Mavericks close out their 3-1 victory.
The Mavericks scored their three runs on seven hits with one errors while the Wildcats one run came off of three hits with three errors.
