Feb. 26, 2011
Final Stats
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ARLINGTON, Tex. - Ryan Walker went 4-for-5, but UT Arlington could not get hits in key moments, leaving 12 on base, allowing Missouri State to escape with a 3-2 win Saturday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Mavericks' only loss of the UTA Invitational fittingly concluded in frustration when Missouri State's Aaron Conway dove to snag Jordan Vaughn's two-out flair to center. Vaughn's shot came with runners on second and third and would have brought home the tying and winning runs.
Instead, it left two more runners on base and dealt the Mavs (2-4) the loss.
"It's frustrating but there's really nothing you can do about it, you just got to get a guy in," UTA coach Darin Thomas said. "The only thing you can do a better job if in situational hitting is making contact with a guy at third and less than two outs. We did that couple of times, but getting a hit with runners in scoring position, you know there's really no drill you can work on in practice. You either do or you don't."
UTA's inability to produce runs in key situations wasted a strong outing from starting pitcher Lance Day, who scattered 10 hits through 7.0 innings. He gave up three runs and walked one while striking out nine.
The Bears (3-3) scored all of their runs in the first on RBI from Brock Chaffin, Luke Voit and Derek Mattea.
For UTA, it marked the latest in a series of troubling first innings. The Mavs have not held an opponent scoreless in the first inning of a game this season.
"It's hard to have that inning where you just shake your head and say, `Why do they have to have an inning like that,'" Day said. "That's the only inning they score. There's no excuse for that. You warm up in the pen and throw 25 pitches and you figure it out then. You do the same thing when you get out on the mound. I don't know why it took me an inning to figure it out."
After that, Day (0-2) settled down and threw 6.0 shutout innings. Brody Walker, Sam Hansen and Adam Westbrook combined to shut the Bears out on one hit over the final 2.0 innings.
Unfortunately for the Mavs, Missouri State pitchers Pierce Johnson and Nick Petree matched found their way out of trouble all day. Johnson (1-0) picked up the win by hurling 6.0 innings, holding the Mavs to two runs on nine hits while striking out five. Petree threw the final 3.0 and kept UTA off the board, thanks in part to Conway's remarkable catch to end the game.
UTA left runners on in every innings except the fourth and left nine runners stranded in scoring position.
The Mavs got hits from eight of the nine spots in the batting order, including a pair of doubles and an RBI from Preston Beck. Michael Guerra drove home the other run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Thomas said after the game that the weekend showed several positives moving forward in the Mavericks' season.
"You can come off last weekend one of two ways. You can feel sorry for yourself, or you can come out and do something about it," he said. "That's four straight games, counting the last game against Houston, that have come right down to the last at-bat. If that ball gets down, we win the game."
UTA returns to the field Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the Mavs host No. 6 Oklahoma at Clay Gould Ballpark.
