SAN MARCOS, Texas – With an opportunity to win the Sun Belt Conference West Division Championship, the UT Arlington baseball team (31-24, 17-12 SBC) squared off in a crucial weather-altered doubleheader on Friday against Texas State (36-18, 19-11 SBC), but it was the host Bobcats coming away with a sweep: 10-9 in the first game and 13-10 in the second contest.
 
With the win in the first game of the doubleheader – the second of the series – Texas State claimed the West Division title, but UTA – with still plenty to play for in regards to next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament seeding – had a three-run lead in the 8th inning of game two before the Bobcats plated six runs, including a grand slam, to pull away in the nightcap.
 
After a UTA 9th-inning victory in the series opener on Thursday night, officials decided to move Saturday's game to Friday and thus the doubleheader due to impending inclement weather expected in the area over the weekend.
 
In the opening game, UTA jumped out to a 5-0 lead, watched as Texas State scored seven unanswered runs, reclaimed a two-run lead, but fell short following an 8th-inning rally by the hosts.
 
In the second game, Josh Minjarez homered twice, Andrew Miller delivered a three-run home run of his own and the Mavericks had a 10-7 lead before Texas State once again picked up the win thanks to a big 8th inning.
 
GAME 1 RECAP: Texas State 10, UTA 9
All but one batter in the UTA lineup had a hit in the back-and-forth opening game of the twin bill as the Mavericks received contributions throughout the order, led by a 3-5 performance out of the clean-up spot by Andrew Miller. Miller added three RBI, a double and a home run, while lead-off man Connor Aube also drove in three and delivered a homer of his own.
 
Eight of UTA's nine RBI on the game came from the top-4 guys in the order as Zac Cook added a pair of his own of the 2nd position in the lineup; Aaron Funk had the other on the solo home run in the 9th spot.
 
UTA jumped out to just the start it was looking for, scoring five runs in the 2nd inning to take a 5-0 lead. Miller put the Mavs in front by sending a 2-2 offering over the left-field fence for a solo home run before Funk followed a few batters later with an RBI single punched through the right side to plate Dylan Paul. With UTA holding that 2-0 edge, the big blast in the frame came off the bat of Aube as he didn't miss on a 2-0 pitch, delivering a three-run home run to left to complete the quintet of runs in the inning.
 
Texas State got one of those runs back immediately, but UTA remained in control, 5-1, entering the bottom of the 4th when the hosts got all five of those runs they surrendered in the 2nd back, plus one, to take their first lead of the afternoon, 6-5.
 
The Bobcats added another run in the 5th, and after a scoreless frame by both sides in the 6th, UTA stopped the stretch of seven-straight unanswered runs by Texas State with another big inning in the 7th to forge back in front.
 
It was a pair of two-RBI hits which got the job done for the Mavs – the first when Cook singled to right to bring around Funk and Tyler Rice with the tying run, and the second two batters later when Miller jumped on a 1-0 offering to lace a double into the left-center gap to score Cook and Anthony Dominguez, who had worked a full-count walk in front of Miller.
 
Now holding a 9-7 lead and nine outs from forcing a decisive third game of the series for the right to decide the Sun Belt West Division Champion, UTA stopped a Texas State rally in the bottom of the 7th and maintained that two-run lead into the home portion of the 8th.
 
Unfortunately for the Mavs, the Bobcats plated three runs in the bottom of the 8th, and Cook was left stranded in scoring position in the top of the 9th as Texas State claimed a back-and-forth 10-9 victory to give itself the West Division crown.
 
David Moffat started on the mound for UTA and left with a no-decision following 4 innings of work in which he scattered 10 hits and allowed seven runs, five of which were earned. Wyatt Divis put together a strong 2.2 shutout innings of work in relief, giving up just two hits over his 12 batters faced. Andrew Gross (2-3) – who got the final out of the 7th with runners on 1st and 2nd – was charged with the loss as all three earned runs in the 8th were ticketed to him.
 
GAME 2 RECAP
Minjarez drove in the first four runs of the night, Miller was responsible for the next three the Mavs pieced together a three-run 7th and looked poised to get the split and take the series. However, another late-game comeback by Texas State thwarted those hopes.
 
Thirteen different Mavs had a plate appearance in the game, and six recorded multi-hit performances, led by three hits each from Miller and Dominguez as UTA out-hit Texas State, 17-11.
 
Like UTA did in the first game, Texas State commenced the scoring in the second game off a home run – this one a two-run shot – in the bottom of the 3rd to forge ahead 2-0.
 
However, Minjarez wasted no time at all in getting one of those runs back in the top of the 4th as he sent the first pitch of the inning out of the park to pull UTA back within one, 2-1.
 
It was Minjarez again the very next inning who put the Mavs in front, 4-2, as he sent a 1-0 pitch again over the left-field fence to score Miller – who had reached on a fielder's choice – and Cesar Gomez – who had walked in front of Minjarez.
 
Texas State, however, once again had an answer and evened things up in the bottom of the frame, 4-4.
 
But UTA yet again went to the long-ball response, and for the third-straight inning the Mavs hit a home run – this time a three-run shot again to left by Miller. With his second home run of the day, Miller plated Dominguez and Aube to put UTA back in front, 7-4.
 
In keeping with seemingly fitting form for the day, the two sides continued the peak-and-valley performance each way as Texas State yet again had an equalizer right away, and it came in the form of their own three-run home run in the bottom of the 6th, and the two sides went to the 7th knotted at 7-7.
 
It didn't stay that way long as UTA reached double-figure runs with another three-run inning, this time started by a Boone Montgomery single to center to score Minjarez. Aube grounded into a bases-loaded double play, but it was enough to push across another run, and Cook brought Montgomery around with a single of his own to right to extend the Maverick lead back to three, 10-7.
 
However, the aforementioned grand slam followed by a pair of extra runs in the bottom of the 8th by Texas State proved too much for UTA to overcome.
 
UTA didn't go down without a fight, however, as Cook recorded an RBI single in the 9th, but the comeback effort fell short as the tying runs were on base.
 
Ka'ikepone Anderson started for the Mavs, scattering six hits over 5 innings in which he surrendered seven runs, but only five of those were earned. Riley Bost entered in relief following the three-run homer with nobody out in the 6th and got out of the inning without any further damage. However, Bost (1-4) took the loss as he was responsible for the grand slam in the 8th which put Texas State in front for good.
 
NEXT UP
UTA will learn its Sun Belt Conference Tournament seed and path to the championship following results of games on Saturday. The tournament begins on the campus of Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C., this coming Tuesday, May 21.
 
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