March 10, 2009
Box Score
MONROE, La. - The UT Arlington baseball team held an 8-5 lead on the road against Louisiana-Monroe before the Warhawks stormed back into the lead with a seven-run sixth inning that led them to a 15-9 victory over the Mavericks on Tuesday night at Warhawk Field in Monroe, La. UT Arlington drops to 5-9 overall and ULM is now 7-5 on the season.
The contest included 37 players - featuring 11 pitchers - with 33 base hits, 24 runs scored, 14 walks and two errors with a total of 365 pitches in a game that lasted three hours and 12 minutes.
The Mavericks scored in six separate innings, including two in the first inning on a sacrifice fly from Matt Otteman and an RBI single from Andrew Kainer to give the Mavericks the early 2-0 lead.
UT Arlington starting pitcher Drew Clementz was the first of seven pitchers for the Mavericks as he posted his shortest outing of the season throwing 2.1 innings, allowing four hits, three runs and two walks.
Clementz was not the pitcher of record though, as the Mavericks came back to take the lead, 4-3, after ULM scored two runs in the bottom of the first and a run in the third inning.
Ryan Davis recorded a bases-loaded RBI walk to tie the score and then third baseman Evan Raley gave the lead back to UT Arlington with a sacrifice fly to right field, which scored Kainer who reached base on a double earlier in the third inning.
The Mavs looked to have the game under control in the top of the sixth inning after scoring two additional runs on three hits to grab an 8-5 lead. That is when the Warhawks began their rally.
Left fielder Jon Prevost, who went 3-for-5 with four RBI, led off the inning with a solo home run off Mavericks' reliever Ryan Martin. Six of the next seven ULM hitters would end up reaching base and scoring as the Warhawks faced three UT Arlington pitchers in the frame.
ULM center fielder Matt Laird recorded five hits in the game, including four hits in four of the final five innings of the game.
ULM reliever Corey Brown settled into the game while pitching four innings with only two hits allowed and one run to earn his first victory of the season. Martin was the losing pitcher as he pitched 0.2 innings allowing three hits, four runs and one walk.
The Mavericks' only run after taking an 8-5 lead came off the bat of pinch hitter Eric Wright in the ninth inning, who hit his first career home run with a solo shot over the left-field fence with two outs.
Every starter for UT Arlington had at least one base hit or RBI. Otteman led the Mavericks going 3-for-4 with three RBI, improving his hit streak to 14 games. Otteman now has a team-high 10 multi-hit games, including four three-hit performances. He is now leading the Mavs batting .491 (28-for-57) this season.
Jay Pitschka (2-for-5, 2 runs), Tim Steggall (2-for-2) and Kainer (3-for-4) joined Otteman with multiple hits. Kainer is now 9-for-20 with three multi-hit games over his past five starts.
UT Arlington will return home for the start of an eight-game home stand - its longest of the season - this weekend hosting UTSA for a three-game Southland Conference series at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington. Game times for this weekend are 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
