UTA Baseball Defeats Texas
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ARLINGTON, Texas – Playing on the big stage of Globe Life Park against No. 14 Texas failed to phase UT Arlington as the Mavericks took down the Longhorns in a 6-5 walk-off victory in 10 innings on Tuesday night.
“It was a good environment tonight with a lot of people,” UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. “We played a great club and I have a lot of respect for those guys. I’m just proud of our guys and we finally got one.”
The Mavericks (10-7) played in front of a UTA record crowd of 4,123 people in the thrilling game against the Longhorns, who dropped to 13-8 on the season.
With the two teams trading shots through the first seven innings of the game, UT looked poised to escape Arlington with a victory. The Longhorns put together a three-run ninth inning that was culminated with a triple to right center field that brought in a pair of runs and put Texas on top 5-2.
The Mavericks opened up the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles by Matt McLean and Travis Sibley, but looked to be in trouble with the bases loaded and two outs. Enter freshman Will Olson who pinch hit for the Mavs with the game on the line. Olson entered the midweek game batting .111 with two career hits. After getting ahead in the
count 3-1, the Sherman native took the fourth pitch of the at-bat and sent it through the right side to bring in two runs and send the game to extras.
“I was just waiting for my opportunity to help this team out and I got it,” Olson said. “I got a fastball to hit and I didn’t miss it.”
After senior pitcher Colin Tornberg laid the Longhorns down in order in the top of the tenth, UTA got off to a fast start in the inning as Christian Hollie sent the ball to the left-field corner for his second career triple. With the bases loaded and one out on the board, a wild pitch allowed a hustling Hollie to score from third to end the game.
Eric Tate was outstanding in the UT Arlington victory as the senior infielder went 4-of-4 at the plate with one run and one RBI. Helping Tate spur the Mavs offense was the duo of McLean and Sibley, who both went 3-of-5. McLean scored a pair of runs, while Sibley notched one run.
“Even getting an opportunity to play here and against those guys, it’s great,” Tate said. “It’s a dream come true. I couldn’t be more proud of the team. These guys fight and I love the team.”
On the mound UTA used a bevy of pitchers in the game as six made their way onto the mound from the bullpen. Tornberg picked up his first win of the season, while striking out two batters in his one inning.
After a difficult start for starter Reid Petty, Daniel James came in and calmed to storm as he lasted four innings with only one earned run allowed while also notching a strikeout.
The Mavericks will return to action on Wednesday when they play host to No. 16 Dallas Baptist at Clay Gould Ballpark with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.
