Feb. 23, 2009
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ARLINGTON, Texas - Senior Drew Clementz led UT Arlington to a second-place finish in the UTA/Hilton Invitational as the Mavericks defeated Siena, 12-1, for the second straight day to finish the invitational with a 3-1 record to open the season.
Clementz threw seven innings in his third career start for the Mavericks allowing four hits and one run with a strikeout during his season debut on the mound. The Mavericks also tallied 18 base hits in the victory, as six players recorded multi-hit games including sophomore center fielder Michael Choice who led all players going 4-for-5 with four RBI and a triple.
Choice finished the four-game invitational with a .529 batting average (9-for-17) with nine RBI, three extra-base hits and 14 putouts in center field.
"I felt good and my arm felt strong today," Clementz said. "I was just trying to get ahead of the batters and let my defense work. The great thing about our ballpark is it's a defensive ballpark so you can just pitch and let your defense make plays behind you."
The Mavs tallied runs in six different innings, including three in the bottom of the first to grab an early 3-0 lead. Senior left fielder Blake Holt hit his first home run of the season with an opposite-field homer to lead-off the home half of the first inning.
"Just the excitement of playing games again has everybody ready to play," Choice said of the Mavericks starting the season with their four games at the UTA/Hilton Invitational. "I felt really good. I just want to stay consistent on hitting the ball where it is pitched."
Senior right fielder Andrew Kainer also hit an opposite field home run to right, giving him his second homer of the season. Kainer finished the game going 2-for-3. Senior catcher Chad Price made his season debut going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI.
Sophomore pitcher Mark Picca also made his season debut collecting three strikeouts in one inning of work. Senior Matt Dunn pitched the ninth for the Mavericks while posting one strikeout and not allowing a base hit.
The Mavericks scored a total of 25 runs with 32 base hits against Siena in the final two games of the UTA Invitational.
"I'm very happy with our performance this past weekend, except for our game against Texas State," head coach Darin Thomas said following his team's victory. "I'm especially happy how we came back and played in the two games after we played poorly."
UT Arlington will travel to play Texas on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for a 5 p.m. first pitch at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin. Official game was changed to 5 p.m. on Monday evening after originally being schedule for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
FINAL UTA/HILTON INVITATIONAL STANDINGS:
1. Texas State (3-1)
2. UT Arlington (3-1)
3. Siena (1-3)
4. Arkansas State (1-3)
GAME NOTES:
The victory improves the Mavericks all-time record in the UTA/Hilton Invitational to 27-21 in its 16th season... Drew Clementz marked a career-high in innings pitched (7.0) and had his longest start against the Saints... The Mavericks marked the highest batting average (.361) and lowest ERA (3.00) in the eight-game UTA/Hilton Invitational... Twelve UTA players finished with a batting average above .300 for the tournament, including seven players who hit above .400... Nine of the 13 UTA pitchers who made an appearance in the invitational didn't allow an earned run... Michael Choice has recorded three straight multi-hit games batting .571 (8-for-14) during that stretch.
