UTA Baseball Splits Doubleheader
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ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington split the opening day of its series against Troy, taking game one 15-4 before falling 7-6 in the second game of the day.
“Overall not a bad day, but when you split it’s not a good day either,” UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. “I was very pleased with game one. I thought we swung the bat and caught some breaks and took advantage of them and Chad [Nack] did a good job for us on the mound.”
The Mavericks (16-21, 7-10 Sun Belt) recorded 30 hits on the day to go along with 21 runs. The Trojans (21-19, 10-7 Sun Belt) put up 11 runs in the two games off of 23 hits.
Jackson Morris was explosive in the pair of games, going 5-for-9 with six RBI and a home run. Morris was aided by five other UTA players who hit over .500 on the day. Levi Scott also helped chip in with a 4-for-8 performance that included four RBI and three runs.
“We’ve got a big game tomorrow,” Thomas added. “We’ve got a chance to win a series against a good club and we need to win a series so tomorrow is a really big game.”
The Mavericks will return to action on Sunday in a rubber match against the Trojans with first pitch set for 1 p.m.
Game One: UTA 15, Troy 4
An offensive outburst propelled UT Arlington to a 15-4 victory over Troy in the opening
game of a doubleheader at Clay Gould Ballpark on Saturday afternoon.
The Mavericks brought in their 15 runs off of 17 hits with three errors. The Trojans pushed across four runs, notching 10 hits with one error.
Chad Nack (3-3) claimed the win, going seven innings on the mound with eight hits and four earned runs allowed. The Sanger native also fanned three on his way to recording his 100th career strikeout.
Six Maverick players recorded a multi-hit outing in the game with Christian Hollie and Morris leading the way. Hollie ended the day 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI, while Morris came away with a 3-for-4 outing that included a three-run shot in the sixth inning to go along with six RBI.
After Troy took a one run lead in the top of the second inning, UTA responded with a six-run scoring outburst in the bottom half to take control of the game. With back-to-back singles by Eric Tate and Brady Cox loading the bases for the Mavs, Hollie stepped into the box and delivered with a two-RBI single through the left side.
With a Matt McLean walk reloading the bases for UT Arlington, Levi Scott came up with a two-out single to right field that brought in a pair of runs. Morris would cap off the scoring spree with a two-out, two-RBI double to right field that pushed across the final two runs of the inning, giving the Mavericks a 6-1 lead heading into the third.
Troy cut into the UTA lead in the third inning with two straight singles that pushed across a pair of runs, slimming the Mavs lead to three runs at 6-3.
Looking to extend its lead in the fifth, UT Arlington used a Darien McLemore single to clear the way for Scott to score, pushing the Maverick lead to four runs.
The scoring continued in the sixth inning for the Mavericks as they brought in five runs to take a 12-3 lead. UTA scored in back-to-back at-bats for the first two runs of the inning. Morris came to the plate and sent the ball over the right-field wall for a three-run shot and his first home run of the season.
Tacking on some insurance runs in the seventh, the Mavs came away with a three-run inning, highlighted by a Travis Sibley single to left field that pushed across two runs and extended the final margin of victory to 11 runs at 15-4.
Game Two: Troy 7, UTA 6
After opening up the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader with seven straight scoreless innings, UTA put together a furious eighth inning rally, scoring six runs to cut the Troy lead to one run.
Tate finished the game with a 2-for-3 outing, batting in one run. Jerame Littell also was effective, going 2-for-4 with one RBI.
After giving up five runs in the first two innings, the Maverick bullpen responded with a six-hit, two run outing that put UTA in position to make the comeback.
With Hollie getting hit by a pitch to open up the eighth inning, the Mavericks strung together six straight hits to get within one run. Sibley, Scott, McLemore, Littell and Dalton DeLeon each recorded an RBI single in the inning for UTA.
A McLemore two-out single set the stage for UTA to knot the game up at seven, but a ground ball ended the Mavericks hope of a comeback as they fell 7-6.
Daniel James (2-3) was charged with the loss, allowing seven hits and three earned runs in his two innings on the mound.
