March 27, 2004
Box Score
MONROE, Louisiana - Louisiana-Monroe's Ty Rollinson hit a walk-off inside the park home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Indians a 6-5 victory over Texas-Arlington on Saturday afternoon at Indian Field.
Leading off the 10th inning, Rollison smoked a ball off of Mavericks closer Mark Lowe. Right fielder Dane Ryan made a great play to get back on the ball to make the catch, but at the same time, collided very violently with the wall, jarring the ball loose and leaving Ryan injured on the warning track. By the time center field Paul Bruder could get over and get the ball back in, Rollison rounded the bases for the winning run.
The Mavericks (15-11, 3-2 SLC) struck in the first inning as Aaron Batlle ripped a one-out double down the left field line and came around to score on Paul Bruder's two-single to center field.
The Indians (12-13, 1-4 SLC) threatened to take the lead in the third inning as a base on balls and an error put a pair of runners on with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt pushed both runners into scoring position, Jake Baxter struck out the next hitter and got a nice defensively play from Battle to end the inning.
Batlle added to the Mavericks lead in the fifth inning as he connected on his second home run of the season to left center. Aaron Cook also scored on the play as he started the inning with a double to right center field.
The Mavericks defense let them down again in the fifth inning as after retiring the first two hitters, Lane LaBorde singled up the middle to break up Baxter's no hitter. Bradley Hoffpauir and Glenn Jackson reached on back-to-back fielding errors by Josh McSpadden to load the bases before Jay Aulds was hit by a pitch for the first run.
ULM found its groove at the plate in the seventh inning Lane LaBorde started things with a walk and found himself at second with two outs. Jay Aulds stopped Baxter's streak of innings without allowing an earned run at 27 innings when Aulds singled to center field. Ben Jones put runners on the corners with a single right center field. Justin LaBorde tied the game up with a single to center field before Kade Eady gave the Indians the lead with a two-run triple to left center field off of reliever Mike Snapp.
The Mavericks threatened to tie the game up in the eighth inning as Ryan Nelson led off with a base on balls and Ryan followed with a single to right field. Brett Lewis put down a sacrifice bunt, but when pitcher Jim Miller could not handle the bunt, the bases were loaded with nobody out. Pinch hitter Daniel Macha reached on a fielder's choice as Nelson was retired at the plate. Darrell Preston then pinch hit and lined out to second baseman who quickly ran over and stepped on second base for the double plat and the rally killer.
UTA tied the game up in the ninth as Batlle roped a one out single to center field. Pence followed with a grounder back to the pitcher, but Miller's attempt to get Batlle at second sailed into center field. After a Bruder groundout advanced the runners, Nelson tied the game with a double into the right center field gap.
The Mavs offense was led by Batlle who went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in and three runs scored. Nelson, Ryan and Lewis each collected a pair of hits for UTA.
Jim Miller (1-1) picked up the victory after blowing the save by giving up two runs on three hits in three innings of work. Lowe (0-2) took the loss by allowing the one run on one hit in one-third of an inning.
The Mavericks and Indians will close out their three games series at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Indian Field.
