May 11, 2004
Box Score
WACO, Texas - The University of Texas at Arlington baseball team did not play a game for nine days, but the team was not rusty as it got a solid start from Michael Gardner and timely two-out hitting as the Mavericks defeated Baylor 4-3 Tuesday evening at Baylor Ballpark.
The victory for the Mavs was the first in Waco in 17 tries dating back to 1992. It was also UTA's sixth win in eight tries against teams from the Big 12.
Gardner, who was working on a pitch count, earned the victory after allowing one hit over four innings of work. He struck out three and threw 47 pitches, 30 for strikes. He improved to 10-2 on the season and became the first Mavs pitcher to reach 10 wins since Chris Gay in 1992.
The Mavericks (27-22) did some damage with two outs in the third inning as Carey Avants started the inning with a base on balls and found himself standing on second base with two outs. Hunter Pence changed that with a single just over the glove of the shortstop to score Avants and proceeded to steal second base. The theft was key as Darrell Preston followed with a bloop single to center field to plate Pence. Just the same as Pence prior, Preston stole second and scored when Paul Bruder singled to right center for the third run of the inning.
The UTA bats came calling again in the fourth inning as Brett Lewis ripped the first pitch of the inning into the left center field gap for a double. For Lewis, it was his ninth double of the season and first in his last 78 at-bats. With one out, Lewis broke for third and Kasey Baker singled just behind Lewis through the left side allowing the catcher to come around to score.
The Bears (23-24) got on the board in the sixth inning as they loaded the bases on a Chase Gerdes walk, Drew Sutton single and Drew Brees being hit by a pitch all off UTA reliever Bric Steed. After Steed went two-and-zero on Kyle Reynolds, Blake Pierson came into the game and got Reynolds to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, allowing a run to score and then got Michael Griffin to ground out to second and end the inning.
BU pushed a pair of runs across in the seventh inning as with one out, Zach Dillon drew a walk and pinch-hitter Kevin Sevigny was hit by a pitch. Paul Witt would follow with a single through the right side to score Dillon and remove Pierson from the game. Mark Lowe would come on to give up a sacrifice fly to Gerdes before retiring Sutton on a foul out to third.
The Bears threatened to tie the game in the eighth inning as after the leadoff batter reached on an error and was sacrificed to second, Griffin ripped up a ball up the middle that shortstop Aaron Batlle made a diving stop and came up throwing to nail Griffin at first and keep the runner at third. Lowe would then end the inning by getting Ford to hit a two-hopper to second base.
Bruder led the offense with three hits, while Pence added two. No Baylor player had more than one hit as the team only had five.
Mark McCormick (2-3) took the loss after allowing three earned runs on five hits in 2.2 innings of work. Mike Snapp earned his 10th save of the season after retiring both hitters he faced in the ninth.
The Mavericks return to action this weekend as they open up a three-game Southland Conference series with Northwestern State. The series opener is set to begin Friday evening at 7 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark.
