Box Score

By Ben Rikard | UTAMavs.com

TROY, Ala. - UT Arlington scored two runs with two outs in the top of the 10th to pick up a 4-2 win over Troy on Sunday, clinching the weekend series from the Trojans at Riddle-Pace Field.

Freshman shortstop Josh Minjarez drove in the game-tying run with a grounder in the top of the eighth and then delivered a two-out RBI single for what proved to be the winning run in the top of the 10th to put the Mavs (22-19, 8-10 SBC) ahead for the first time on the day.

"That was a great effort from our guys today," UTA coach Darin Thomas said. "It is tough to take two of three after losing the first one on the weekend, but we made the pitches and the plays when we had to, not to mention a couple of timely hits against a good team that is ahead of us in the standings."

Jacob Moreland did yeoman's work in relief, allowing just one run in a career-best 6.0 innings to run his record to 3-0 on the season. Jake Wilcox allowed just three hits and one run in 4.0 innings in making his fourth start in the last three weeks.

The UTA pitching duo battled throughout the day, leaving 12 Trojan (23-18, 9-9 SBC) runners on base and holding Troy to just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Matt McLean was the lone Maverick to register a multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored on a day that saw the Mavs garner six hits against a trio of Troy pitchers. Minjarez finished with a pair of RBI, while Colton Turner also drove in one.

The late UTA rally spoiled an otherwise good effort from Troy starter Lucas Brown who allowed just three hits and a pair of runs in 7-plus innings of work with five strikeouts. Marc Skinner fell to 1-2 on the year with the loss, despite his lone run allowed being unearned in the 10th.

Minjarez tied things up at 2-2 with an RBI grounder in the eighth and Moreland pushed the game into extras after leaving the bases loaded in the home half of the ninth. UTA then took advantage of Darien McLemore reaching on the first Troy error of the game in the 10th, advancing him on a single from Noah Vaughan and up to third when Caleb Koedyker hustled to beat out a potential double play. Minjarez then lined the first pitch he saw from Troy closer Cory Childress into center field to score McLemore and one batter later McLean shot a single to left to score Koedyker with an insurance run, giving Moreland a two-run cushion to work with.

Troy tried to start another rally in the bottom of the inning when TJ Binder singled to left to open the inning, but Moreland cued up a double play one batter later and then got Austin Hulsey to ground out to short for the game's final out.

Brown faced the minimum in the first three innings for the Trojans before the Mavs executed a hit-and-run to set up its first score of the game in the fourth. A leadoff single from McLean was followed two batters later by a single to right by Brady Cox, pushing McLean to third before Turner beat out a potential double play to bring home the UTA center fielder.

Meanwhile, Wilcox needed just 20 pitches to get through the first three frames, but ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Troy shortstop Matt Sanders was the first to connect, sending a 3-1 pitch out to left field for his first homer of the year to tie things at 1-1.

Joey Denison followed that up with a double to the left-center field gap, but the Maverick lefty responded with a fly out and then a punchout of Binder to end the frame and leave the go-ahead runner on second base.

Troy put together a pair of threats in both the fifth and sixth, but the Mavs went to the pen and senior reliever Jacob Moreland managed to work out of both. None was bigger than the bottom of the sixth when the Trojans loaded the sacks with one out, but a nice defensive play from RJ Williams saved at least one run before Moreland struck out Hulsey to end the inning.

The Trojans finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh when Brandon Lockridge singled to open the inning and came home to score two batters later on an RBI single from Sanders, his third hit of the day.

However, UTA manufactured a run in the bottom of the eighth to tie it at 2-2. Quintin Rohrbaugh started the inning with an infield single, and after a walk to Vaughan and a sacrifice bunt from Aaron Funk, Minjarez brought Rohrbaugh home with a hard ground ball to second base off of Skinner.

The Mavs will now head to College Station on Tuesday to face No. 3 Texas A&M in the final non-conference road game of the season.