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By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan

ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington split a Sun Belt Conference doubleheader against No. 18 Louisiana on Saturday at Clay Gould Ballpark.

UTA (23-21, 9-11 SBC) rounded up 10 hits, including Darien McLemore's fourth home run of the season in a 4-1 win in Game 1. Louisiana (28-16, 13-7) edged the Mavericks with a two-run seventh inning to even the series in Game 2.

"Overall, we played all right today and it's tough to play a doubleheader against a top-20 club," coach Darin Thomas said. "They pitched us better in the second game and we have to have a better approach with two strikes."

"We have to pitch better out of the bullpen and do a better job of putting the ball in play with something on it. We'll come back tomorrow and try to win the series."

The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday at Clay Gould Ballpark as part of a four-game homestand.

Game 1 (Box Score)
UT Arlington 4, No. 18 Louisiana 1
McLemore was a catalyst for the Maverick offense in the series opener, going 2-for-3 with a double, two runs, an RBI and a walk as UTA pulled out a 4-1 win in the opener. The senior cranked his fourth home run in his last 13 games, breaking a scoreless tie with the leadoff shot in the third inning.

UTA tallied 10 hits to the Ragin' Cajuns' nine after Louisiana starter Gunner Leger retired its first six hitters. The Mavs recorded at least one hit in each of the final eight innings.

Freshman Josh Minjarez was 3-for-4, including a two-out, RBI single in the eighth inning. Brady Cox added a pair of hits to stretch his reached base streak to 17 games.

Kadon Simmons moved to 8-3 on the season and sat down six of his first eight batters on his way to pitching into the eighth inning. The junior allowed just one run on seven hits, striking out two and walking three in 7.0 frames.

Jacob Moreland allowed a pair of hits, but put up a pair of scoreless frames to earn his third save of the year.

Meanwhile, Leger retired five of the first six Maverick batters on groundouts before McLemore ended the pattern with his leadoff homer in the bottom of the third.

Alex Pinero tied the ballgame with a deep sacrifice fly to left in the sixth and the Mavericks responded with a pair of runs on back-to-back two-out singles from Quintin Rohrbaugh and Christian Hollie. UTA added an insurance run on Minjarez's single in the eighth, giving Moreland a three-run cushion to work with in the ninth.

Leger took the loss and dropped to 5-3 after dealing three earned runs on seven hits, three walks and two strikeouts through 5.2 innings.

Game 2 (Box Score)
No. 18 Louisiana 6, UT Arlington 4
The bats were hot for both teams in Game 2, but a two-run Ragin' Cajun rally in the seventh proved costly for the Mavericks as the Cajuns pulled out the 6-4 win.

UTA garnered 12 hits and Louisiana pumped out 15 with a pair of errors. Brady Cox went 4-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored to reach base for the 18th consecutive game this year.

Rohrbaugh and McLemore also had multi-hit games with Rohrbaugh finishing 3-for-5 with two RBI. McLemore was 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Joel Kuhnel (4-3) threw 6.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits and a strikeout in taking the loss.

Eric Carter improved to 3-1 on the mound for Louisiana after giving up two hits and a punchout in his 1.1 innings. Dylan Moore earned his league-leading 11th save of the season with 3.0 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three on the night.

The Cajuns tested Kuhnel early in the top of the first plating a pair of runs to stake itself to an early lead.

UTA cut the lead in half as Cox and McLemore connected on back-to-back doubles in the bottom half of the frame. Two innings later UL got that run back to up its lead to 3-1 before UTA struck again in the fifth.

Both Kuhnel and UL starter Wyatt Marks put up a pair of zeros until the Mavs struck for three runs to take its first lead at 4-3 in the fifth. Williams lined an RBI single to left and Rohrbaugh laced a base hit of his own off of reliever Eric Carter to score two with two outs.

Kuhnel kept the Cajuns off the board in the sixth, but a pair of RBI doubles in the seventh inning from Hunter Kasuls and Kyle Clement gave the Cajuns the lead once again at 5-4.

Daniel James was called in to handle the final two innings and struck out two in the top of the eighth before allowing an insurance run on an RBI double in the ninth.

UTA mounted a rally in the ninth against Moore when Cox drew a one-out walk, followed by a McLemore single to left-center; however, Moore cued up a double play to end any chance of a comeback.