ARLINGTON, Texas – UTA baseball (9-17, 3-5 SBC) were defeated 5-2 at Clay Gould Ballpark by the Warhawks of ULM (9-15-1, 4-3-1 SBC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
Starting pitcher Michael Wong (L, 1-3) tossed 5.0 innings for UT Arlington with four strikeouts and one walk, allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits.  Matt Novis (1.0 IP), Trevor Pruitt (1.0 IP), Jack Hagan (1.0 IP) and Ryan Thomas (1.0 IP) cobbled together an effective relief outing combining for five strikeouts while only giving up one run on three hits.
 
The Mavs accumulated two runs on nine hits led by multi-hit efforts from Oscar Ponce (2-5), Matt Lumsden (2-3, HR, BB) and Cason Gregory (2-4, R).
 
In the bottom of the second inning, UTA benefited from their friendly confines when Lumsden drove an 0-2 pitch to left-center field which rolled to the base of the wall and stopped.  The ULM center fielder approached the ball and called for a stoppage of the play which was not granted.  The batter continued his trip around the bases during the confusion, crossing home as the third base umpire trotted into the outfield to investigate.  After a brief conference, the officials decided there was no interruption of play and awarded the inside-the-park home run.
 
The scoring continued in the second after contributions from Gregory and Zach Henry led to Tanner Rice RBI single which gave the Mavericks a 2-0 lead.
 
ULM were able to gain the lead with a solo home run in the third and added three additional runs in the fourth inning with a string of singles and a wild pitch flipping the game to a 4-2 visitor's advantage.
 
The top of the fifth was also a test for Wong as the Warhawks collected a single and a double to place runners on first and third with no outs.  After a sharp groundout to third, ULM attempted a squeeze bunt in which Wong flipped the feebly hit ball to catcher Sam Crowell who applied the tag for the second out of the inning.  After falling behind in the count 3-0, Wong would induce a full-count flyout to center, pumping his fist in celebration as he left the mound.
 
The Warhawks added another run in the seventh inning pushing their lead to 5-2.
 
UTA loaded the bases in the home half of both the eighth and ninth innings but none of the runners were able to come in to score.
 
UP NEXT
The Mavericks play the final game of the weekend set on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the ULM Warhawks at Clay Gould Ballpark.
 
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