May 3, 2013
Photo Gallery / Final Stats
Game 2 starters:
UTA - Zach Thompson (5-3, 5.19 ERA) vs. DBU - Cy Sneed (3-3, 5.59 ERA)
ARLINGTON, Texas - A five-run outburst by the Mavericks in the sixth inning plus a strong outing from Brad Vachon lifted UT Arlington to Friday night's 6-1 Western Athletic Conference over Dallas Baptist at Clay Gould Ballpark.
UT Arlington (25-21) continued to hold on to its first-place standing in the WAC by improving to 13-6. The Patriots dropped to 23-23 overall and 9-10 in conference.
The three-game series continues with Saturday's 2 p.m. start. First pitch for Sunday's finale is set for 1 p.m.
Matt Shortall went 4-4 to lead UT Arlington's 11-hit attack, while Darien McLemore went 2-4. Vachon took advantage of the run support, moving to 6-3 after working 7.2 innings and allowing one run on seven hits. The junior struck out five and is now 4-2 in WAC starts.
"Vachon was the story of the game," UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. "He really escaped some jams early in the game. He left a small village out there the first three innings. .. After we got the lead, he did what he normally does."
UT Arlington jumped ahead in the sixth by getting to DBU starter Jake Johansen. Greg McCall (double), Brandon Lawrence (triple) and McLemore (single) had run-scoring hits, as the Mavericks put five runs up on the board to lead 6-1.
Derek Miller walked and Shortall singled to open the inning. McCall, showing bunt on a 2-2 count, pulled back and drove the ball over the left fielder's head to score Miller. Lawrence's liner into the right-center gap brought Shortall and McCall home. Lawrence crossed the plate on McLemore's base knock.
The fifth run of the inning followed a wild pitch by DBU reliever Aaron Gilbreath. McLemore scampered home, just getting under the Gilbreath's tag after the ball ricocheted off the backstop.
"We finally got to him," Thomas said of Johansen. "Our approach got a little better and we got his pitch count up, which helped. We had some really good at-bats in that inning."
The Patriots took a 1-0 lead in the second on Chane Lynch's fifth home run of the season.
The Mavericks tied the game in the third on Shortall's two-out single to right. John Michael Twichell opened the inning with a single to left and advanced to second on Miller's sac bunt for the second out. Shortall's team-leading 43rd RBI followed.
Vachon danced around trouble in both the third and fourth innings. DBU had the bases loaded in the third, and runners on first and third with no outs in the fourth. The Patriots didn't score in either inning. Vachon escaped the latter jam with two strikeouts and a ground out.
