July 9, 2012

By Michael Eldridge | UTAMavs.com

ARLINGTON, Texas - Former UT Arlington starting pitcher Lance Day made a move to the Houston Astros after pitching in five games with the independent league Grand Prairie Air Hogs.

The move made Day the fourth Maverick to ink with a Major League team after UTA won the Southland Conference Championship behind Day's arm in May and finished the season in the NCAA tournament.

"Our coaching staff is very happy that he was picked up," head coach Darin Thomas said. "He meant the world to our program. With 12 wins he couldn't have done any better than he did for the last two seasons."

Day, who joined the Mavericks in 2011 after transferring from Midland Junior College, pitched in five games with the Air Hogs before moving to the Astros organization.

"You don't really know till they get here but he quickly showed us that he was going to be in the mix to be one our better pitchers," Thomas said. "If he wasn't the most competitive, he was up there with the top of them for being a competitive guy."

In five games with the Air Hogs Day posted a 2-0 record in five appearances and four starts. He finished with a 4.38 ERA in 24.2 innings pitched giving up just 12 earned runs. He is set to join the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Pennsylvania League, which is a single-A affiliate of the Astros in Troy, N.Y.

Day finished second in the nation in wins during his senior season with the Mavericks notching 12 wins in 18 appearances, tying a UTA record for wins in a season. His wins during the past season included victories against UT Austin, Texas State and the SLC championship game. He led the Mavs in strikeouts, innings and overall starts during the 2012 season and was selected to the ABCA All-South Central Region second team.

Day joins Preston Beck, Adam Boydston and Collin Reynolds from the championship roster to have Major League contracts.