March 20, 2011
Final Stats
ARLINGTON, Tex. - Jesse Payne hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 11th to help UT Arlington defeat UTSA 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The win enabled the Mavericks (12-8, 4-2) to win the series with the Roadrunners.
"It was one of those weekends where it was tough to score," UTA coach Darin Thomas said. "They made it tough. They're a good club. I feel very fortunate to win two games against those guys. That's a good club that's going to win a lot of conference games.
Adam Boydston (1-0) threw 3.0 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and striking out three, in earning the win. The southpaw left runners in scoring position in every inning.
For the third time in as many games this weekend, neither team lit up the scoreboard.
True freshman John Beck dominated in his first career start, throwing 7.0 scoreless innings while allowing just four hits and striking out five. He did not walk a batter and allowed just one UTSA player to reach third base.
"I was just spotting my pitches up and I had a second pitch today," Beck said. "My slider was hitting its spot today like it was supposed to and I was getting them to roll over or pop up. I wasn't really trying to do too much. I was just trying to make them hit it. With this wind they're not really going to hit anything well, so I just wanted to let the defense play."
When the Roadrunners did get a runner to third in the second inning, catcher Chad Comer got his freshman out of trouble. UTSA (7-15, 1-5) tried a double steal with two outs and runners on the corners. Comer fooled Jake Wood into thinking he would throw the ball to second. Instead, the senior catcher threw behind Wood to third baseman Brian Nephew, who applied the tag.
Beck left in the eighth with UTA leading 1-0, but the bullpen could not hold the lead.
"We didn't score much, but we pitched and we'll eventually score. I was proud of how we did, John Beck was outstanding today."
Michael Morales left with the bases loaded after walking two and giving up a hit in 0.1 inning and then the bullpen walked in a run. The run marked the first Morales has given up all season.
Michael Oberto came in after UTSA scored and induced a critical double play to end the inning. Nephew backhanded Daniel Rockett's chopper down the third-base line, stepped on third and fired to escape the jam.
Oberto faced one batter in the ninth before Thomas turned to Boydston.
Nephew provided the Mavs with their first run of the game when he fired a two-out double to the left-field wall in the fourth inning. He advanced to third and later scored on wild pitches.
Cody Scott took the tough-luck loss in relief, giving up just the unearned run in the 11th over 5.1 innings.
The Mavericks managed just five hits in the game, but put themselves in a position to win in the 11th.
Ryan Walker led off the inning by reaching on UTSA first baseman Casey Selsor's fielding error. After a sacrifice bunt, Preston Beck singled to center field and advanced to second on the throw home. UTSA intentionally walked Comer to face Payne, who lofted the game-winning sacrifice fly to score Walker.
The Mavs have now won the first two conference series of the season for the first time since 2006.
They travel to Waco to play No. 14 Baylor on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
