May 11, 2012
Final Stats
LAKE CHARLES, La. - UT Arlington was held in check by McNeese State starter Blake Ware in Friday night's 4-2 loss at Cowboy Diamond.
The Mavericks had Lance Day on the hill, and the senior ace pitched well enough to pick up his 10th win. But Ware (7-5) was too tough, holding UTA to seven hits before running out of gas in the ninth.
The Mavericks dropped to 29-21 overall and 16-12 in the Southland Conference. McNeese improved to 20-26 and 14-14 in conference.
Collin Todd led off the fourth with a double for the Cowboys and scored on a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.
Preston Beck almost gave UTA the lead with a blast with two on in the seventh, but the ball died on the warning track for the third out.
McNeese added to its lead in the seventh. Andrew Guillotte chased Day (9-3) with a leadoff double before coming home on two wild pitches by UTA reliever Adam Westbrook.
The Cowboys scored another run on another wild pitch by UTA's third pitcher in the inning, Michael Morales. Mavs catcher Greg McCall added to the misery with an errant pickoff attempt at third that allowed another run to score.
Beck did represent the tying run in the ninth, coming up with the bases loaded against McNeese closer Michael Clemens. Beck drilled a single to right, cutting the McNeese advantage in half to 4-2.
Clemens, though, came back to strike out Michael Guerra to end the game. Travis Sibley had three of UTA's eight hits.
The series is scheduled to continue Saturday, but the threat of heavy rains has the game in jeopardy.
