March 20, 2018

Box Score | Notes

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Five UTA pitchers combined to throw a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 win over Abilene Christian, on Tuesday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.

UTA (10-9) cruised past Abilene Christian (13-6) behind a dynamic pitching performance. The Mavs held ACU to just two hits, a two-out double in the second and a leadoff single in the fourth, issuing just three walks.

It marked UTA's sixth consecutive win, dating back to an 18-inning win at No. 6 Texas A&M last Tuesday in College Station, where the Mavs pitching staff worked 17 straight scoreless innings to open the longest game in TAMU history.

LEADING THE MAVS
A solo jack from RJ Williams gave the Mavs all of the offense needed in the win, coming in the fifth inning as his second blast of the year. UTA got two-hit games from Christian Hollie and Josh Minjarez, with Zac Cook, Omar Salinas and David Renning each notching hits.

ON THE MOUND
UTA starter Cody Wernli worked a career long 3.1 innings in his second career start. He allowed two hits and one walk, striking out three. After a pair reached with one out in the fourth, the Mavs turned to righty Logan Austin, who induced a ground-ball double play to escape the jam. Austin worked 2.2 shutout innings, not allowing a hit and walking one, striking out four. With a two-run lead to open the seventh, UTA turned to righty Tristan Tom, who worked a perfect frame before giving way to Ryan Buss in the eighth.

Daniel James turned in the ninth inning for his first save of the year and the 17th of his career.

Abilene Christian starter Colton Brasher (2-2) worked five innings, allowing five hits and one run, walking two and striking out four. Jonathan Nicholson took over to open the seventh and Derek Scott worked the eighth.

NEXT
The Mavs return to action with their first road conference series of the year, traveling to face Little Rock in a series opener on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.

HOW THEY SCORED
The Mavs got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning as Williams launched his second blast of the year, a line drive out to leftfield.

UTA added on in the bottom of the sixth inning, getting a two-out single, dropped into centerfield, from Salinas. After a wild pitch, Minjarez singled up the middle to score Salinas from second base.

The Mavs stretched their lead in the eighth inning, getting a one-out triple from Hollie, laced into the right-centerfield gap. He scored after Olson chopped a grounder to the right side.

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