Box Score

By Ben Rikard | UTAMavs.com

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - UT Arlington got a home run from Brady Cox and three hits from Christian Hollie, but could not overcome a five-run fifth inning in falling at No. 2 Texas A&M, 7-3, on Tuesday at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

UTA (22-20) trailed just 2-1 after four innings, but committed a pair of errors to score a run and extend the inning for the Aggies (33-8). That set up pinch hitter Jonathan Moroney who broke the game open with a two-out grand slam in the fifth that upped the lead to 7-1.

"We did some things well, but they are ranked where they are for a reason," coach Darin Thomas said after the game. "The fifth inning was a big one for them, but we responded and seemed to have guys on base all night. But it seemed like every time that we got guys on, they brought in another quality arm out of the pen, and that is tough."

The six-run lead was more than enough for the Aggie pitching staff, who used four arms on the night. Turner Larkins picked up his second win of the season for Texas A&M, pitching 3.1 innings of one-run relief with four strikeouts.

Matt Michalski was saddled with the loss, falling to 1-3 for the season, despite a solid outing that saw him allow just two earned runs with a season-high five strikeouts in just 4.1 innings.

UTA finished with six hits on the night, three coming from Hollie and two from Cox. Jerame Littell finished the night 1-for-4 with an RBI, driving home Noah Vaughan for the first Maverick run of the night in the top of the second inning.

Vaughan had reached with two outs after being hit by a pitch and moved to third on the first of Hollie's three singles on the night before coming home on Littell's RBI base hit.

The Aggies got the run back in the bottom of the third when Austin Homan scored on an RBI single from Nick Banks. That put runners on the corners and set the Aggies up to potentially take the lead, but Michalski amped it up a notch against the middle of the Texas A&M order and responded with consecutive strikeouts of Boomer White and Hunter Melton to keep things tied at 1-1.

An inning later Texas A&M went up 2-1 on a two-out bloop single to left field that scored Joel Davis, who was in motion on the play, all the way from first base. But it was the top of the fifth that opened the game up for the Aggies as they took advantage of a pair of UTA errors to score five runs - one earned - and go up 7-1.

The big blow came from Moroney, who pinch hit with two outs and the bases loaded and deposited a 3-1 pitch over the left-field wall for a grand slam.

UTA answered in the top of the sixth when Cox greeted new Aggie reliever Ryan Hendrix with a two-run homer, his second bomb of the season, out to left-center field to cut the lead to 7-3. The Mavs put together a threat an inning later, loading the bases with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate; however, A&M turned to reliever Casey Sherrod who entered and got a strikeout of RJ Williams to end the inning in what would be the final UTA threat of the night.

The week does not get any easier for the Mavs as they return home for a crucial three-game series against No. 18 Louisiana this weekend. First pitch of the series vs the Ragin' Cajuns is set for 6:30 pm on Friday.