UTA Baseball Lose Season Opener
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ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington held the lead for the first seven innings of its season opener against Missouri State on Friday afternoon, but was unable to hold on as the Bears scored seven unanswered runs on their way to a 7-2 victory.
Freshman Daniel James was credited with the loss while Zach Merciez came away with the win for Missouri State.
“I felt like we had some opportunities early to have a bigger lead, but give their pitcher credit,” UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. “He’s good and pitched out of it. He struck out two with the bases loaded in one inning and in another inning we don’t get a bunt down when we had a chance.”
After three scoreless innings, the Mavericks got on the board first in the fourth inning when an error coupled with a pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs. Brady Cox then came up to bat and hit a sac fly that made way for Darien McLemore to score and give UTA its first run of the season and a one-run lead over the Bears.
Christian Hollie made some noise in his first outing in a Maverick uniform as he led off the fifth inning with a double to left field. Hollie then was pushed to third when Matt McLean recorded a single off of a bunt. Senior Travis Sibley then picked up a RBI when he brought home Hollie with a hit up the middle to give UTA a
two-run advantage. The Mavs nearly added to that lead as they had the bases loaded with one out, but Missouri State got out of the jam with a strikeout and a ground out to end the inning. Hollie and Sibley both ended the day 2-of-4 at the plate.
The Bears made their push in the top of the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out. The Mavericks then made their second pitching change of the day when they brought in freshman RHP Daniel James with the bases loaded to replace Zach Hobbs. After Missouri State hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to bring in one run, James forced a ground out to McLemore who flipped the ball to first, just beating out the runner and ending the inning with UTA on top 2-1.
The Bears then knotted the game up at two runs apiece when Dylan Becker sent Daniel James’ first pitch of the inning out of the park. A walk later in the inning loaded the bases before a Missouri State single brought in two runs to put UT Arlington behind 4-2 in the eighth inning.
The Mavericks looked to close the gap in the bottom of the eighth as Hollie hit a single down the left field line with two outs to load the bases. However, Missouri State was able to end the inning with a clean slate as they forced a Matt McLean ground out to the shortstop.
The Bears extended their lead with a three-run ninth inning. A deep double to centerfield brought in one run while a two-run homer later in the inning gave Missouri State their final margin of victory at five runs.
Senior Chad Nack tossed a six-inning gem to start the season as he came away with one strikeout and no walks or earned runs while allowing six hits. Nack’s 74-pitch debut came in his first start since May 14, 2013 when the Sanger native got the start against TCU during his sophomore season.
“He pitched six innings and didn’t walk a guy,” Thomas said. “He’s not a strike out guy because he doesn’t have a big time slider, but he’ll compete in the strike zone. He did that today and definitely gave us a chance to win against a very good team, but then the bullpen gave up seven in three innings and you’re not going to beat anybody when that happens.”
The Mavericks recorded their two runs off of eight hits with zero errors while the Bears registered seven runs off 14 hits with two errors.
UT Arlington will return to the field in Nacogdoches on Saturday when it takes on Washington State at 3 p.m.
