April 10, 2016
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By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan
ARLINGTON, Texas - Jake Wilcox crafted six complete innings and Darien McLemore was a triple shy of the cycle as UT Arlington beat ULM in the series finale Sunday at Clay Gould Ballpark.
UTA (18-15, 5-7 SBC) avoided the series sweep after dropping the first two games of the Sun Belt series. ULM moved to 13-19 and 4-8 in conference play. The Warhawks' series win was the first in Arlington since 2001.
"We got the early lead and that's the second time in a row I thought Jake [Wilcox] was really good and Darien [McLemore] obviously had a good game," UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said.
"We scored early and threw strikes. It was a good win after a couple of disappointing losses."
McLemore was 3-for-4 with two runs with a career-high four RBI in his first game as a two-hole hitter this season. His home run in the first inning was both his second of the season and of the weekend. Four Mavericks had multi-hit games while UTA fashioned 11 hits with five recorded in a five-run fourth inning.
ULM tabbed seven hits and was 2-9 with runners in scoring position. The Warhawks matched their four errors from Game 2.
Wilcox (3-2) bested his career high with six strikeouts, and was responsible for two earned runs on five hits and a walk through six frames. The sophomore retired 11 of the next 15 batters after ULM's two-run second inning.
"Against any team, you keep the ball low and it'll work," Wilcox said. "I had my slider on today so I had another pitch I could throw in there for a strike and it kept them off balance."
Adam Meyer threw the next 1.2 innings out of the pen and was credited for two runs on a hit, two punch outs and a walk. Daniel James protected the win with one hit allowed in 1.1 innings.
All six hitters were retired in the third inning before UTA's 10-batter fourth manufactured five runs. Noah Vaughan opened the inning with a double and scored on Jerame Littell's RBI single up the middle. Matt McLean padded the rally with a double to extend his career-high hit streak to 15 games.
McLemore did his job with bases loaded and smoked a double to left-center, scoring a batter later on a wild pitch to up UTA's advantage 8-2.
The Mavericks worked their first multi-run lead of the weekend in the first inning with McLemore's homer to right field and Quintin Rohrbaugh's sac fly.
The lead was short-lived as the Warhawks answered with a pair of runs in the second inning with an RBI-double and a groundout to the left side.
Littell singled to lead off UTA's second and took advantage of two free passes to third on a failed pickoff attempt and wild pitch. He later scored on McLean's sac fly to give the Mavs the upper hand again, 3-2.
ULM placed a pair of runners for the first time since the second inning with a base knock and a Maverick throwing error. Wilcox had other plans and sat Nathan Reynolds down looking. Wilcox allowed a leadoff double in the sixth and settled down to strike out the side.
ULM's Brandon Bell (2-4) was finished after 3.1 innings after allowing eight runs, six earned on nine hits, three strikeouts and a wild pitch.
The Warhawks cut UTA's lead in half in the top of the eighth and took advantage of two UTA arms in Meyer and James. Nathan Pugh reached on a fielding error at third base, which opened the door for two runs on two hits.
The Mavericks have a break in conference play Tuesday against Houston Baptist with a 6:30 p.m. start at Clay Gould Ballpark. The meeting is the fourth of an eight-game homestand.
"The first two games were a letdown," McLemore said. "We can't come out and perform like that. You have to be able to be a consistent team, especially after beating TCU the way we did. Being able to get that win at the end was a big one."
