UTA Baseball Loses Opener
{fshare id=4818}
ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington tried to mount a late rally late but the mountain was too steep to fully scale in Friday’s season-opening 14-9 loss to Stephen F. Austin at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Mavericks (0-1) will face Incarnate Word (0-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the second game of the UTA Invitational. Incarnate Word was beaten 10-5 by Oklahoma State in Friday’s first game of the UTA Invitational.
The Lumberjacks (1-0) pounded out 20 hits against six UTA pitchers. SFA scored in each of the first five innings and put up the most runs against UTA since Baylor beat the Mavericks 14-4 on April 9, 2013.
“It was good to see us fight back a little bit, and we got within a batter or two of getting back in it,” UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said.
Mavericks ace Brad Vachon (0-1) struggled in the early going, putting multiple runners on base in each of the first three innings. The Lumberjacks touched up Vachon for eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits in 2-plus innings before getting pulled for reliever Keegan Hucul.
“The discouraging thing was we just didn’t get them out the first three or four innings.” Thomas said. “We’ve got to do a better job of that.”
The Lumberjacks put the first two batters on the start the game and scored on
Mackenzie Handel’s sac fly to center. SFA added another run on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.
The second inning started even worse for Vachon, as the Lumberjacks loaded the bases without an out on two hits and a walk. The Mavericks were one out from limiting the damage to one run, but a two-out double from Ricardo Sanchez made it 5-0.
The onslaught continued over the next three innings, as the Lumberjacks upped their advantage to 13-0. SFA scored at least two runs in each of the first five innings.
The Mavericks finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with two runs on one hit. Peter Cuomo had an RBI groundout with the bases loaded to end the shutout.
UT Arlington scored another run in the seventh to close the gap to 13-3. John Michael Twichell started things with a screaming single up the middle and eventually scored when Derek Miller was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Darien McLemore and Matt Shortall each had two-run hits to highlight a six-run eighth to cut SFA’s lead to 14-9 going into the final frame. Cuomo and Shortall each finished the game with two hits, and the Mavericks had 11 as a team.
“Mentally you have to flush it,” Cuomo said. “We have a game tomorrow.”
SFA starter Cameron Gann worked five innings to earn the win. The Lumberjacks face Oklahoma State on Saturday at 11 a.m.
