Feb. 24, 2006
Box Score
MIDLAND, Texas - The saga that is the early part of the 2006 Texas-Arlington baseball team continued Friday evening as two costly errors led to seven unearned Texas Tech runs over the first four innings in a 15-7 loss at Citibank Ballpark in the Midland Collegiate Classic.
The Mavs (3-6) struck in a big way in the second inning as the first six batters of the inning reached and chased Tech starter Aaron Odom from the game. Danny Slinkman started things by getting hit by a pitch and Colin Booher singled to right field. David Newby put down a sacrifice bunt fielder's choice, but the throw to third was late and everyone was safe. Robby Winn drove in the first run with a single to left field and Kyle Rudy followed with an RBI single through the left side. Daniel Rieder drew a bases loaded walk to chase the starter from the game. David McLeod greeted the new pitcher with a deep sacrifice fly to right center. The final run came in to score when Justin Stevens struck out, but the ball got passed the catcher, allowing Stevens to reach and Rudy to score.
Tech (7-3) responded with a run in home half of the inning as Matt Smith started things with a double to left field, but was erased at third on a fielder's choice off the bat of James Leverton. After advancing to second on a leaping catch against the fence by Newby, Drew Evans reached on an infield single. Kyle Martin drove in the run with a single through the right side.
A costly error with two outs in the third inning allowed one more Tech run to score. A single and a walk, coupled around a pair of flyouts, put two runners on. Leverton's grounder to third skipped passed Booher allowing one run to score. The Mavs minimized the damage by getting the next hitter to fly out harmlessly to center field.
UTA threatened to have another big inning in the fourth as they loaded the bases with nobody out, but only managed to push across one run. Adam Moore started the inning with a base on balls and was followed by singles from Stevens and Slinkman. After a pitching change, Booher drew a bases loaded walk. The Mavs could not score again as Tech reliever Zach Butler enticed a 1-2-3 double play and a flyout to left.
The fourth inning was one to forget for the Mavs as another costly error led to six unearned runs, all with two outs. After the first two batters were retired in order, Tech got a walk from Willie Rueda followed by a Callender single to center and a Capps walk. The next batter hit a chopper to the third baseman Booher who decided to take the short route to second, but instead threw the ball into right field allowing two runs to score. That just opened the gates as the Red Raiders got three straight RBI base hits and capped off the scoring with a wild pitch to take an 8-6 advantage after four innings.
UTA got a run back in the fifth inning as Rudy started the inning with a double to left field and came around to score on a McLeod groundout to second.
The Red Raiders wasted no time in plating two more runs of their own in the home half of the fifth as a walks to Rueda and Capps came in to score on a Reves chopper over a drawn-in infield.
Two more runs crossed the plate in the seventh inning as following a fielder's choice and an excuse me double over the third baseman's head, Smith delivered a two-run single to center field.
Austin Bridges (2-1) took the loss for UTA as he allowed eight runs, one earned, on nine hits in 3.2 innings of work. Butler (1-0) picked up the victory as he allowed just one run on four hits in six innings of work.
Rudy led the Mavs offense with three hits. Moore's single in the first inning extended his hit streak to nine games this season.
The Mavs return to action tomorrow morning as they take on Dallas Baptist in their final game of the Midland Collegiate Classic. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. at Citibank Ballpark.
