May 16, 2004
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Junior right-hander Grant Varnell allowed one run in the first inning and then settled in as he retired 17 of the last 19 hitters he faced in leading Texas-Arlington to a 3-1 victory over Northwestern State Sunday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Demons (28-20, 14-8 SLC) got to Varnell immediately as Josh Boop started the game with a single to left field and moved to third when left fielder Hunter Pence misplayed the ball. Rusty Jones drove in Boop with a weak grounder to first base.
The Mavs (28-24, 11-13 SLC) got the equalizer in the home half of the first as Pence, hitting in the leadoff spot since game 13 of the 2003, ripped a double to straight away center field. Aaron Batlle followed with a fly ball to right field, which Pence tagged and advanced to third. Darrell Preston plated Pence with a groundout to second base.j
NWLa. threatened again in the second inning as the first two guys reached on base hits before a sac bunt put both runners in scoring position with one out. Varnell then settled into his groove as he enticed a popout to short and flyout to center to end the threat.
UTA capitalized on the momentum in the bottom of the inning as Daniel Lenihan smoked a ball of the backside of Demon starter Russell Dorton and reached second as Dorton's throw sailed wide of first base. With two outs, Brett Lewis drove in Lenihan with a single into left center field.
The Mavs added an insurance run in the fourth inning as a Preston base on balls, Ryan Nelson single and a Dane Ryan hit by pitch loaded the bases. Lewis, the Mavs hottest hitter, drove in his second run of the game when he was patient at the plate and drew a four pitch walk.
Varnell improved to 4-4 on the season as he left the game after allowing one run on six hits in 7.1 innings of work. He struck out one and did not walk a batter, while throwing 80 pitches, 56 for strikes.
Michael Garza came on in relief of Varnell and walked the first hitter he faced. After getting the next hitter to line out to right, Boop stole second and advanced to third on the throwing error by the catcher. With two outs, and Brandon Morgan, the Demons top hitter at the plate, Garza rared back and struck out Morgan to keep the lead at two.
Garza would take the mound to start the ninth, but gave up a double to Bobby Barbier and then gave way to closer Mike Snapp. Snapp earned his 11th save of the season as he got Hunter Thoms to pop up to second base and then fielded a ball off the bat of Blake Jones and turned and fired to third to retire Barbier trying to advance. After a Michael Palermo single through the left side put runners on the corners, Snapp got Scott Pittenger to hit a lazy fly ball to left field to end the game.
For Snapp, it was his 32nd appearance of the season and the 127th of his career. He is now tied with Kirk Saarloos from Cal. State Fullerton (1998-2001) for fifth on the NCAA all-time list for career appearances.
Dorton (5-3) took the loss as he allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits in 3.2 innings of work.
As a team, the Mavs collected only four hits as they got one each from Pence, Baker, Nelson and Lewis. Jones and Jeff Martin each had two hits for the Demons.
The Mavericks return to action on Thursday as they open a three-game Southland Conference series against Texas-San Antonio at 7 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark.
