ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington Mavericks (7-14, 1-3) defeated the Troy Trojans (15-6, 3-1) on Friday night 8-5 at Clay Gould Ballpark to pick up their first conference win of the season.
In his first career start,
Tanner King (W, 1-2) tossed 5.0 innings for the Mavericks, striking out five, allowing three runs on six hits.
Gray Bailey (3.0 IP) carried the water through the middle innings with
David Moffat (SV, 1) closing out the first conference win of the season.
Clad in powder blue uniforms, UTA accumulated 10 hits, led by Matt Cavanagh (3-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB),
Cade Sumbler (2-3, 3 RBI) and
Steven Saunders (2-4, 2 R). This was the eighth time this season the Mavs have had 10 or more hits in a game and the seventh at home.
King opened his evening with an unconventional yet efficient 1-2-3 inning with a swinging strikeout, a pickoff to first after a hit by pitch then a fly out to right field.
In the bottom of the second, the Mavericks stormed to a 3-0 advantage. The inning was kicked off with a pair of singles from Saunders and
Oscar Ponce. Cavanagh and Sumbler collected RBI singles with
Cason Gregory driving in another with a sacrifice fly.
The Trojans evened the score 3-3 in the fourth inning with three runs on three hits. King limited the damage despite loading the bases with no outs, ultimately leaving two runners on base.
UTA did not waste any time regaining the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Saunders led off with another single to open the inning, slicing a ball through the teeth of the Troy defensive shift.
Matt Lumsden then doubled off of the top of the center field wall, just shy of his first career home run, to drive Saunders in from first. The run pushed the Mavs ahead 4-3.
King finished his night with a flurry of excitement, inducing two swinging strikeouts with an outfield assist at third on a double to the base of the right field wall to retire the side cleanly.
Gray Bailey would enter the game and retire the side in order in both the top of the sixth and seventh inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, an inning-opening rally featuring consecutive singles from Cavanagh and Gregory then a Sumbler two-RBI triple would give the home side a 6-3 lead.
Cavanagh would bring home two more runs in the eighth with a double to right field, bringing the Mavericks advantage to 8-3.
Troy kept the game alive in the ninth by quickly grabbing a run with a bases loaded single with no outs. Moffat entered the game with the bases loaded and induced a highlight reel double play on a grounder up the middle. Shortstop
Cason Gregory made a sliding grab, touched second base and threw to first to deter further damage despite another run crossing home. With two outs and an 8-5 lead, a routine ground ball to third ended the game.
UP NEXT
The Mavs play game two against the Trojans at Clay Gould Ballpark on Saturday, March 26 at 2 p.m.
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