March 21, 2015 Final Stats
By Paul Watley | @WatP7
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Pitching reigned supreme Saturday as UT Arlington fell to No. 16 UC Santa Barbara 2-1 walk-off fashion at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
"That was a well-played game, a real pitcher's duel," UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. "We knew we were going to have our hands full with their guy and I'll give our pitchers credit. We threw three freshmen out there to start the thing off and got it into extra innings and lost in eleven. We had our chances, not many, but we did have our chances and their guy just made big pitches to get out of jams."
The Mavericks (11-9) held the Gauchos (14-6) to a .243 batting average and one earned run. Despite the strong performance on the mound, the Mavs were unable to capitalize offensively.
Freshman Brad Vassar was impressive in his sixth start of the season, allowing six hits and one earned run while fanning a pair in his 5.2 innings on the mound.
The relief pitchers for the Mavs held their own. They allowed three hits combined and one run in 4.2 innings. Reid Petty brought his A-game, as the freshman right hander went three innings with no earned runs while striking out a trio of Gauchos.
UCSB struck first in the third inning with a bases loaded ground out that brought one run across.
The Mavericks answered in the eighth inning to knot the game back up. Matt McLean's lead off single to center field was followed up with a Travis Sibley single up the middle. Levi Scott came to the plate and hit a deep ball that stayed just inside the right-field line to load the bases with no outs. McLean ended the day 3-of-5 with one run, while Sibley came away with a 2-of-4 performance.
Jackson Morris drove in UTA's first run of the day with his sacrifice fly to right to plate McLean. While the Mavs looked to extend their lead with a pair of runners on and one out, back-to-back ground outs ended the inning tied.
UTA looked to be in trouble in the bottom of the ninth with runners on second and third, but the relief efforts of freshman lefty Jake Wilcox paid off with a fly out to McLean.
The difference in the game came in the 11th inning. The Gauchos got two on with none out via a hit and an error by UTA. A single through the right side later in the inning brought home the winning run.
UTA finished with eight hits and one error, while UCSB had nine hits and an error.
The Mavericks will wrap up its weekend road trip on Sunday with a 1 p.m. (CT) game against Dartmouth.
"It's going to be a bounce-back day for us after a disappointing loss," Thomas added. "I think we had a chance to sweep (UCSB), but we've got a young team and we've got to learn that when you lose a tough one you have to be able to come back. We'll treat it like a conference series and try to win the series."
