May 20, 2004
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Texas-San Antonio pitcher Aaron Rodriguez thought he was out of the inning when he struck out Texas-Arlington third baseman Daniel Lenihan. That was not the case as the ball was in the dirt and catcher Robbie Johns came up and fired a strike down the right field line advancing Lenihan all the way to third base. The Mavs took full advantage of the extended inning as four pitches later Dane Ryan singled to center field to plate Lenihan with the winning run in the Mavericks 6-5 10-inning victory Friday evening.
The victory moved the Mavs into fifth place in the conference standings, just one game behind UTSA for fourth place.
The 'Runners (27-27, 12-12 SLC) jumped on the Mavs early as they pushed across five runs in the third inning in chasing UTA starter Jake Baxter from the game. Aaron Semper started things by getting hit by a pitch before a sacrifice bunt and back-to-back singles plated Semper. A walk loaded the bases before Mark Lowe came in and walked Eric Moreno to plate another run. The final two runs of the inning came on Zach Etheredge's single bloop single down the right field line which Ryan fell down, allowing the ball to drop.
UTA (29-24, 12-13 SLC) came back with a four spot of their own in the bottom half of the inning as Kasey Baker singled to center, Aaron Batlle walked and Hunter Pence put down a bunt single to load the bases. Darrell Preston drove in the first run with a single to right field and Ryan Nelson followed with a run producing single through the right side. Lenihan would ground out to score another run before Brett Lewis would single to center to score one run, but the second runner was called out at the plate on a very close play.
The game would remain with the same score over the next four innings before Preston delivered a full-count over the right field wall for his third homerun of the season, tieing the game at five. In Preston's final at-bat in the ninth inning, a single to center, he became the school's all-time leader in career at-bats with 832.
Mike Snapp (4-3) would earn the victory by throwing three innings allowing no hits, while striking out two and walking one. Rodriguez (3-9) took the loss after allowing one unearned run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. UTSA starter Klae Bohme went nine innings in the no decision throwing 156 pitches, 105 for strikes.
Baker and Preston each collected three hits for UTA, while Pence, Nelson and Ryan each had two. Mike McKennon led the 'Runners with two hits.
The same two teams will play the second game of the series tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark.
