March 17, 2010
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
ARLINGTON, Texas - Michael Choice went 4-for-6 with a home run and three RBI to lead UT Arlington to a 17-9 victory over Oklahoma Christian Wednesday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The victory gave the Mavericks (7-10) the midweek, two-game series sweep over the Eagles (10-9).
Freshman Taylor Mabra made his first collegiate start in right field going 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBI. Maverick third baseman Brian Nephew went 3-for-4 with four runs scored, a double and two RBI. UT Arlington was also led by shortstop Jesse Payne (2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI), Jordan Vaughn (2-for-5) and Cody Dyvig (2-for-4).
Every Maverick starter scored a run and 10 different position players finished with at least a base hit. The bottom of the Mavericks batting order (6-through-9 batters) combined went 10-for-17 with nine runs and eight RBI.
UT Arlington starting pitcher Preston Beck went 3.0 innings and allowed five hits, two walks and four runs with four strikeouts. Reliever Calan Pritchard pitched a pair of scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth frames while allowing two hits with two strikeouts. Pritchard earned the win and moves to 2-0 on the season.
The Mavericks plated five runs in the second and fourth innings to grab a 10-4 lead. The Eagles mounted a comeback scoring three runs in the sixth and two runs in the seventh to trail 10-9 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Mabra drove a single up the middle to score Nephew - who doubled to lead off the inning - giving the Mavericks an insurance run late in the game. UT Arlington added six runs in the eighth inning on five hits, two of which belonged to Choice.
Choice, the junior All-American, singled in the first, hit a towering home run over the batter's eye in center field for a two-run homer in the second before collecting his final two hits in the eighth.
Choice is now batting .387 (24-for-62) with 20 runs, three doubles, one triple, six home runs and 19 RBI. He has 19 walks and owns a .758 slugging percentage and a .518 on-base percentage. In addition, Choice has now reached base safely in 29 consecutive games dating back to last season.
The Mavericks used four pitchers to throw the final four innings of the game. Freshman Jake Pinchback pitched the sixth, redshirt freshman Stephen Krolick threw the seventh, freshman right-handed pitcher Garrett Laird struck out a batter in a three-up, three-down eighth inning and junior Logan Bawcom struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
UT Arlington travels to San Antonio this weekend for its first road series of the season facing UTSA for a Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) series at Roadrunner Field.
