Box Score | Photo Gallery

By Ben Rikard | UTAMavs.com

ARLINGTON, Texas - Noah Vaughan hit his first career home run and Joel Kuhnel allowed just two runs in 6.2 innings as the UT Arlington Mavericks took the opener of a four-game weekend series, 6-2, from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.

The Mavs (6-4) picked up 10 hits on the night, reaching double figures for the fifth time in their last six games, and never trailed behind Kuhnel's strong outing. The senior allowed six hits in moving to 2-1 on the year with the win, punching out five Islanders (4-5) on the night.

"I had a really strong defense behind me," Kuhnel said. "They came out hitting the ball and we came out with a lot of energy. My biggest thing with runners on base is that I know my defense is playing strong behind me. I can throw the ball and let them hit it and know that my defense is working."

UTA pushed across a pair of runs in the opening inning, but gave itself some real breathing room when Vaughan connected on a two-run homer inside the right-field foul pole with two outs in the bottom of the third off of Islander starter Devin Skapura. That upped the lead to 4-0, which was plenty for Kuhnel.

"It was a changeup that he kept throwing me," Vaughan said. "I kept missing and then I made a slight adjustment and got lucky and hit it out. If it stayed fair, I knew it was gone."

The middle of the UTA order did the majority of the damage as the 3-through-6 hitters in the lineup combined for seven hits and four RBI on the night. Christian Hollie, Colton Turner and Quintin Rohrbaugh all had two hits apiece on the evening. Rohrbaugh, Hollie and Brady Cox each picked up an RBI as well.

"When Joel pitches, we have to do everything we can to win," coach Darin Thomas said. "He didn't have his best stuff tonight, but he really battled. I know that's a used phrased, but I really thought he competed. He had one walk and we played well behind him. We scored just enough, so it was a good win and gave us a little momentum going into tomorrow."

Skapura took the loss for the Islanders, allowing five runs - three earned - in 4.1 innings.

Meanwhile, the UTA bullpen duo of Jacob Moreland and Daniel James was lights out in allowing just one hit in the final 2.1 frames.

RJ Williams, who scored a pair of runs on the night, opened the scoring in the first inning the first of two Islander errors on the evening after a one-out walk and a swipe of second. Turner then placed a double just inside the right-field line and Rohrbaugh made it a 2-0 Maverick advantage with a sac fly to right field.

UTA left a pair of runners on base in the second, and looked as though they would do the same after Rohrbaugh lined into a double play following consecutive singles by Hollie and Turner to start the inning. But Vaughan took care of that worry when he connected on a 3-2 pitch from Skapura and kept it just fair for his first career homer to make it 4-0.

Kuhnel kept the Islanders off the board in each of the first four innings before A&M-Corpus Christi broke through with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. A one-out single from Brett Burner started the rally and he scored one batter later on a double by Cullen Jozwiak. Lukas Hermanson followed with an RBI grounder to cut the UTA lead in half at 4-2.

UTA got a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Hollie, but a two-out triple from Hermanson in the seventh was enough for the Mavs to go to the pen. The Mavs went to Moreland with the runner on third and the senior right-hander needed just one pitch to get Nick Anderson to line out to third base to end the final scoring threat of the night.

Moreland then tossed a perfect eighth, and after a sacrifice fly from Cox pushed the lead to 6-2, James picked up the final three outs to finish things off.

UTA will have a quick turnaround on Saturday with a pair of games slated for Clay Gould Ballpark. Adam Meyer is set to get his first start of the year in the opener, with Kadon Simmons to get the ball in the second game of the day.

First pitch of Game 1 is set for noon, while Game 2 is tentatively set for 3:00 p.m.