March 18, 2014
Final Stats
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ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington held on to defeat No. 16 Sam Houston State 7-6 on Tuesday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Mavericks (6-14) ended a four-game losing streak and earned their second win over a top-25 opponent this season. UTA defeated No. 12 TCU 10-2 on Feb. 25 and is 2-1 against ranked opponents. The loss ended a three-game win streak for the Bearkats, who fell to 16-5.
"Hopefully this game gives us some momentum," UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. "We are coming off of two devastating losses at Texas State. I couldn't be more proud of a bunch of guys than the guys that were in that dugout tonight. It was a huge win. I am as proud as I could be of these guys."
The win edged the Mavericks closer to the all-time series with the Bearkats, with Sam Houston State holding a 52-48 advantage. UTA continues its homestand on Wednesday night against Columbia at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be the first for the Mavericks against Columbia and UTA's first against an Ivy League team since 1999.
Sam Houston State raced out to a four-run lead in the second before the Mavs scored six unanswered runs to pull ahead 6-4. UTA used one of the four errors the Bearkats committed on the night to score a run in the first, and Brady Cox's single to score Brandon Vinyard to cut the lead to 4-2.
Greg McCall provided the spark to get UTA's four-run fourth started. McCall cleared the bases with a three-run double to the right-field wall. Ryan Bottger brought McCall home in the next at-bat with a single through the right side.
UTA added a quick response to the Bearkats' run in the fifth with Darien McLemore's single down the right-field line to score John Michael Twichell to put the Mavs up 7-5. SHSU cut into the lead in the sixth again, but UTA's bullpen held the lead to seal the win.
Chad Nack escaped a jam to leave runners in scoring position in the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh. Zach Hobbs picked up where Nack left off to strike out three and earn his first save of the season after pitching 3.2 innings.
