Box Score

By Ben Rikard | UTAMavs.com

TROY, Ala. - Joey Denison hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to push Troy past UT Arlington, 5-2, on Friday in the series opener at Riddle-Pace Field.

UTA (20-19, 6-10 SBC) starter Kadon Simmons and Trojan (23-16, 9-7 SBC) starter Grant Bennett were locked in a 2-2 battle going into the seventh before Denison's smash to center field put Troy ahead for the first and final time in the game.

The Mavs out-hit the Trojans 11-8 on the night, but finished just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Simmons suffered only his third loss of the year, allowing five runs - four earned - in 7.0 frames. He struck out four and walked three. Dylan Schneider entered to pitch the eighth, keeping Troy off the board with a strikeout and one hit allowed.

Meanwhile, Bennett moved to 6-2 on the season despite allowing nine hits. The Trojan righty struck out three and allowed both UTA runs. Corey Childress earned his eighth save of the year with 2.0 scoreless innings of relief.

Eight Mavs picked up at least one hit on the night, with three finishing with multi-hit efforts. RJ Williams and Brady Cox each picked up a pair of hits an RBI, while Quintin Rohrbaugh also had a pair of hits.

UTA took advantage of a pair of singles and two Troy errors to get its first run in the second with Colton Turner coming home on an infield single from Williams; however, Troy answered back with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning, getting three straight singles and tying it up at 1-1 on an RBI base knock from Chase Smartt.

The teams traded runs again in the third with UTA getting its run on an RBI double from Cox to score Matt McLean with one out in the frame. But it was a Maverick miscue that helped the Trojans out in the bottom of the inning as a two-out throwing error on a ground ball to third by Denison allowed Brandon Lockridge to score from first and knot things at 2-2.

Simmons and Bennett went toe-to-toe for the next three frames with Lockridge making a pair of run-scoring defensive plays for the Trojans before Troy struck for three in the bottom of the seventh.

All looked well for the Mavs in the inning after recording the first two outs, but a two-out walk and hit batter brought up Denison who sent a ball to center field and raced all the way around for an inside-the-park homer that put Troy up 5-2.

From there the Trojans turned to Childress who allowed a hit apiece in both the eighth and ninth, but no damage in finishing out the night.

The Mavs will try to square the series on Saturday in the middle game, set to kick off at 3 pm. Joel Kuhnel is scheduled to get the start for the Mavs against Troy right-hander Houston Mabray.