March 25, 2011

Final Stats
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ARLINGTON, Tex. - Lance Day held Northwestern State to two runs on seven hits but UT Arlington could not solve Demons starter Luke Irvine in its 2-0 loss Friday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.

The Mavericks managed just six hits off Irvine in his 7.0 innings and did not have two runners on base at the same time until the sixth inning.

"He pitched a great game, but I thought we made it easy on him," UTA coach Darin Thomas said. "We had way too many flyball outs - just easy flyballs. You're not going to win many games when you don't score runs and we aren't making the necessary adjustments. It will come around, but we need it to turn around quickly."

UTA had two on and one out in the sixth and the seventh but failed to score in both frames. In the sixth, Irvine (3-2) escaped with a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat. He got a popup and a flyball to get out of the seventh.

The Mavericks never got a runner to third base.

Both runs Day allowed came on groundouts.

Matt Farmer put the Demons (7-14, 2-5) on the board in the first inning when his RBI groundout to third scored Drew Helenihi. Northwestern State got another run from Helenihi in the eighth when he scored on Chris Hebert's groundball double play.

Day took another tough-luck loss, falling to 1-4 on the season despite lowering his ERA to 2.60. He walked one and struck out two.

Dustin Northcott worked 2.0 hitless innings to earn his first save of the season.

Brian Nephew had two hits and Michael Guerra added a double for the Mavs.

Will Watson led the Demons offensively with two hits.

Game 2 of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Clay Gould Ballpark.