April 7, 2014
UT Arlington (14-18) at Houston Baptist (14-14)
Probable Starting Pitchers
UTA - Justin Schnedler (1-2, 3.68) vs. HBU - LHP Matthew McCollough (1-0, 3.12)
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington heads to Houston playing its best baseball of the season. The Mavericks have won nine of their last 13 games going into their nonconference matchup with Houston Baptist at 3 p.m.
UTA leads the overall series 6-4 against the Huskies. This is only the second time the teams meet in Houston. Nine of the previous 10 games were in Arlington.
FOLLOW ALONG: Live stats for UTA-HBU are available at HBUHuskies.com.
MILESTONE WATCH: DH Matt Shortall: 31 Doubles (T7th); Next: 7th Aaron Batlle (39)
Shortall: 19 HR, Next: 10th Billy Martin & Daniel Ortmeier (20)
P Chase Weaver: 59 Appearances; Next: 8th Nathan Long (60)
OF Derek Miller: 26 HBP (3rd); Next: 2nd Danny Slinkman (27), 1st Chad Comer (28)
MAVS SWEEP WEEKLY AWARDS: The Mavericks earned both pitcher and player of the week in the Sun Belt Conference on May 31. Ryan Bottget won the Player of the Week award, while Daniel Milliman was named Pitcher of the Week.
FEET FROM THE CYCLE: Designated hitter Matt Shortall was a few feet short of UTA's seventh all-time cycle in program history on March 22 vs. Arkansas State.
In his fifth at-bat of the contest, Shortall attempted to stretch out a double to the right-center field wall but was called out at third on the play.
Shortall was 5-for-5 to complete his second five-hit game of the season, third of his career.
RECORD SETTER: UTA's 19-inning game at McNeese State (2/21) is the longest game played in Mavericks' history. Justin Copeland tied a NCAA DI record, as well as set new a UTA and Sun Belt Conference record, with 10 at-bats. Shortall's four doubles set a new UTA all-time record and tied the SBC record.
The Mavs hit nine doubles as a team to tie a UTA record, now done twice with the last coming against TCU in 1993. Miller was hit by four pitches in the game to tie for second in the NCAA DI record books. Finally, McCall's 25 putouts ties him at sixth all-time in DI baseball history.
THIRD YEAR, THIRD CONFERENCE: The Mavericks baseball team will be in their third conference in as many years with the move to the Sun Belt Conference. UTA moved from the Southland Conference in 2012 to the Western Athletic Conference in 2013.
BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONSHIPS: UT Arlington finished the 2013 season with 31-27 record and a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title. It was UTA's second consecutive championship (2012 SLC Tournament). McCall (second-team), Shortall (first-team) and Brad Vachon (second-team) earned All-WAC honors last season.
MAVS PICKED FIFTH IN PRESEASON: The Mavericks were picked to finish fifth in their first season in the Sun Belt Conference by league coaches.
PRESEASON PLAYER HONORS: Shortall was named to the 2014 Louisville Slugger preseason All-American third-team, as well as the preseason All-SBC team. Shortall and Vachon also earned preseason All-SBC honors from College Sports Madness.
