Box Score | Notes

ARLINGTON, Texas -- After falling behind by four runs after two innings, UTA baseball rallied to score six unanswered runs to post a 6-4 comeback win over Georgia State, in the conference opener for both teams, on Friday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.

UTA (6-9, 0-0 Sun Belt) fell behind to Georgia State (11-6, 0-0 Sun Belt) after allowing a solo jack in the first and three unearned runs in the second innings. The Mavs clawed back with a single run in the fifth and in the sixth inning rallied to take their first lead of the game and chase Georgia State star right-hander Hunter Gaddis.

LEADING THE MAVS
The UTA offense, a game after a season-high 13 runs, collected five runs on eight hits in the win. The Mavs got two-hit games from Will Olson and Omar Salinas, with each going for a double. The Mavs also got a double from Noah Vaughan, with RJ Williams, Zac Cook, Christian Hollie and Easton Johnson each registering hits.

ON THE MOUND
The Mavs started senior lefty Brad Vassar (2-1), who allowed the four runs in the first two frames, only one of which was earned. Vassar worked his second straight quality start and the sixth of his career, firing six innings, allowing five hits and three walks, striking out six.

Junior Andrew Gross took over for Vassar to open the seventh inning after UTA rallied with four in the sixth. Three days after working 6.2 innings as the winning pitcher in the 18-inning marathon at No. 6 Texas A&M, Gross dominated in relief of Vassar. Gross worked three shutout innings in a one-run game for his first career save, allowing just a single in the seventh and a single in the ninth. Gross threw 38 pitches, 29 coming for strikes, with

Gaddis (4-1) worked 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs, walking two and striking out two. He exited in a bases-loaded jam with one out in the sixth inning in face or lefty Tyler Koch. Koch worked 1.2 innings before giving way to Tanner Thomson.

NEXT
The series will resume on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Clay Gould Ballpark. The Mavs will start senior right-hander Trae Patterson (0-1, 5.82 ERA) vs. Georgia State junior righty Jake Rogers (3-1, 2.22 ERA). The game will be broadcast live on UTAMavs.com with the Voice of UTA Baseball, Josh Sours, calling the action.

HOW THEY SCORED
The Panthers got on the board in the top of the first, getting a solo homer with one out from Justin Jones, his second of the year, sent out to leftfield.

Georgia State added on with three runs in the top of the second inning, getting a leadoff runner on after a fielding error and a walk to open the frame. After a sac bunt, Kendall Ford scored Luke Leonard with an RBI groundout. Jones then laid down an RBI bunt single and came around to score on Nick Gatewood's RBI into rightfield.

Olson got the Mavs on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning, pulling an 0-2 pitch over the rightfield fence for his third homer of the year to leadoff the frame.

The Mavs cut into the lead in the sixth inning, getting a one-out double into the left-centerfield gap from Vaughan. Hollie then ripped a RBI single into leftfield to score Vaughan from second. Salinas then painted a double down the line in leftfield, pushing Hollie to third with one out. Olson lofted a fly ball to centerfield that went as a sac fly, but the ball bounced out of the glove of the centerfield, allowing Olson to reach, Hollie to score and Salinas to take third. Minjarez then loaded the bases after getting plunked by a pitch, ending the outing for Gaddis. Funk drew a walk to force in the tying run and after an out, Cook drew a four-pitch walk to give the Mavs a 5-4 lead.

UTA added on in the eighth, getting a leadoff walk from Minjarez and a sac bunt from Funk. Cook then singled up the middle to score Minjarez from second.

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