ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington baseball team (12-17, 3-4 SBC) was unable to hold onto a two-run ninth inning lead, giving up a three-run home run to Coastal Carolina (15-9, 2-2 SBC) as the Chanticleers defeated the Mavericks 8-7 at Clay Gould Ballpark on Saturday afternoon.
The Mavericks used four pitchers in the game, each tossing at least one inning.
Carlos Tavera started the game, throwing 3.0 innings. He struck out five while allowing five runs off five hits.
Tanner King came on in relief, throwing 3.0 shutout innings, while striking out three batters.
Jack Hagan struck out one in 1.0 inning of relief.
Michael Wong (L, 1-1) threw the final two innings, giving up three runs off three hits.
The Mavericks finished with 11 hits on the day, led by
Andrew Miller's 3-for-5 day at the plate.
Phillip Childs and
Josh Minjarez each finished with two hits. Miller and Childs led the Mavericks with two RBI.
Boone Montgomery,
Tyler Rice and
Connor Aube each knocked in one run.
Neither team wasted any time getting on the board. A leadoff walk gave the Chants a runner at the start of the game. After advancing to second base, a single past shortstop allowed the run to cross home. The Chants would load the bases from two walks before a hit batter pushed the second run past home pate.
The Mavericks followed up with a three-run first inning to take the lead.
Boone Montgomery led off the game with a three-pitch lead off home run. Following a single by
Tyler Rice,
Phillip Childs connected on a two-run home run to give the Mavericks a 3-2 lead.
The Chants went back to business in the top of the third. Two doubles and a single scored the first run of the inning, while keeping runners on second and third. A ground-out to third base allowed the Chants to take a 4-3 lead before a single found its way through the left side of the infield to score the final run of the inning.
The score remained at 5-3 until the Mavericks scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Back-to-back walks from
Justin Marino and Montgomery gave the Mavericks runners on first and second before a failed pick off attempt allowed both base runners to advance. Rice and Aube both used sacrifice flies to tie the game at five. With two outs, Childs struck out, but reached first on a passed ball before advancing to third from a singe off
Dylan Paul.
Andrew Miller took advantage of a shift by the Chanticleer defense and hit a fly ball to right field for a double, scoring Paul and Childs to give the Mavericks a 7-5 lead.
Down three runs in the top of the eighth, the Chants picked up two base runners from an error and a single before hitting the go-ahead three-run home run to right field to take the 8-7 lead over the Mavericks.
UP NEXT
The Mavericks and Chanticleers will be back in action tomorrow at 1 pm at Clay Gould Ballpark for game two of the series.
