March 26, 2011
Final Stats
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ARLINGTON, Tex. - UT Arlington's bats were rejuvenated Saturday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark and Collin Reynolds shut out the Demons through the first 6.0 innings in a 6-2 win over Northwestern State.
The Mavericks (13-10, 5-3) scored all six runs in the first three innings, snapping out of a six-runs-in-five-games funk.
"We came out and got some early runs which took some pressure off of Collin and he did a good job getting us into the seventh," UTA coach Darin Thomas said. "I was proud of them. They did a good job."
Brian Nephew gave the Mavs a boost early, driving in a couple on a two-out single through the left side. Nephew's two-RBI hit brought home Ryan Walker and Michael Guerra and gave UTA a lead it would not relinquish.
The Mavs added another run in the second on Walker's sacrifice fly to score Jordan Vaughn. They posted three more in the third, highlighted by Jesse Payne's RBI double.
The six runs were more than enough for Reynolds. The junior right-hander lasted 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out four.
Reynolds left the game after walking Drew Helenihi with the bases loaded to force in a run. Michael Oberto followed him and retired Colin Bear on a sacrifice fly that scored Aaron Munoz. He got out of the inning by striking out Matt Farmer.
The Mavs had to pitch out of trouble again in the eighth. Adam Boydston entered with the bases loaded and nobody out. He got pinch-hitter Dan Meyer to fly out in foul ground to left field and then induced Ryan Keele to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Northwestern State made it interesting in the ninth as well. The Demons got the first two runners on in the inning before Chris Hebert lined out to first baseman Vaughn, who stepped on first to double off Bear.
"We weren't perfect in relief but the bottom line is we got it done when we needed to," Thomas said. "We got out of jams and Adam got that huge double play. I thought that was the momentum-turner in the game."
Boydston struck out Farmer to seal his fourth save of the season.
UTA rattled off a double-digit hit total for the first time in six games, finishing with 11.
Nephew and Guerra each had two hits to lead the Mavs offensively.
Farmer led the Demons (7-15, 2-6) with a pair of doubles.
The Mavs look to take the rubber game in the set against Northwestern State on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark.
