UTA Rallies Past Abilene Christian
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ARLINGTON, Texas – A seventh-inning rally that brought in three runs helped UT Arlington gain control in its 7-5 victory over Abilene Christian at Clay Gould Ballpark on Wednesday night.
The Mavericks (7-6, 2-1 Sun Belt) jump over the .500 mark for the first time this season with its win over the Wildcats (1-12, 1-2 Southland). To put this in perspective, last season UTA went over .500 for the first time 51 games into the season.
“We came out a little bit flat, but I’ll give our guys credit,” UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. “We battled back and found a way to score which is kind of going to have to be our thing. We finally put up some crooked numbers with the three in the seventh and the three in the third were big for us.”
ACU took it to UTA early in the game when a Maverick error couple with a single to left field brought in a pair of runs in the first inning. The Wildcats added another run in the third when a single through the right side made
room for the baserunner to cross the plate and extend Abilene Christian’s lead to three runs.
With two outs on the board in the third inning, Christian Hollie came up with a deep shot to the left field wall that helped extend the Mavericks inning. Hollie’s hit was rewarded with a run in the next at-bat when Matt McLean hit a single through the left side that made way for the freshman from Fort Worth to cut the Wildcats lead to two runs. McLean’s day ended with three hits in four at-bats while recording one RBI and two runs.
After Eric Tate came up with a single through the left side in the third inning, Levi Scott came to the plate and continued the streak of two-out hits with his double that pushed across Tate and McLean to knot the game up at three runs. Scott ended the day 3-of-4 at the plate with three RBI and one double.
After Abilene Christian regained the lead with a two-run fifth inning, the Mavs cut the lead to one run when Scott hit a single through the left side that brought in McLean to make the score 5-4.
The final push for UTA came in the seventh inning as it brought in a trio of runs for its first lead of the game. After a walk with the bases loaded tied up the game at five, Travis Sibley came up with a deadly two-out single through the left side that brought in Tanner Houston and Jackson Morris.
“We did a good job of battling back,” Scott said. “Coming out flat like we did with them putting up three runs on us, we got in a groove and came back which is huge for us. It keeps the momentum on our side going into conference and that’s what we need.”
The Mavs relied on a bevy of pitchers as seven members of the UT Arlington pitching staff saw action in the game. Jake Wilcox made his first career start on the mound and went three innings with five hits and one earned run allowed while striking out four Wildcats. The last five pitchers of the night were dominate against Abilene Christian as Zach Hobbs, Jacob Moreland, Reid Petty, Brad Vassar and Colin Tornberg combined to allow just two hits and no earned runs while fanning six. Petty (1-0) picked up his first career win as the freshman RHP went one inning giving up one hit to go along with one strikeout.
Closer Colin Tornberg made his appearance in the ninth inning looking to pick up his third consecutive close and his fifth of the season. The senior RHP made the most of the outing with three straight strikeouts to end the game.
“What I liked was after we got the lead late, we locked it down,” Thomas added. “Between Vassar and Tornberg they didn’t give up a run and struck out four guys and that’s what you like to see. You don’t want to just give it right back.”
UTA scored its seven runs off of 12 hits with one error while ACU notched five runs from five hits with a clean sheet.
The Mavericks will return to action this weekend when they play host to South Alabama in a three-game series beginning on Friday with first pitch slated for 6pm.
