CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The University of Texas at Arlington baseball team (1-2) finished the season opening series on the road with a 5-3 victory against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (2-1) on Sunday afternoon.
 
The win marked the first career victory for first year head coach Clay Van Hook.
 
Starting pitching and a strong showing from the bullpen proved to be key in the victory for UTA. Texas transfer Caden Noah got the victory on the mound for the Mavericks as he tossed 5 strong innings on 66 pitches, giving up 2 earned runs on 5 hits to go along with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk. Picking up the save was Connery Peters, going 4 innings on 48 pitches giving up 1 earned run on 3 hits and striking out 5 and walking none. 
 
Defensively, the Mavs played a solid game, committing no errors and making some nice plays around the diamond, highlighted by plays from the middle infield. Shortstop Cason Gregory and second baseman Matt Cavanagh made some tough plays to get speedy runners on bang bang plays.
 
Offensively, UTA collected 10 hits in 35 at bats as a team. Sam Crowell led the way with 3 hits, 2 of them were doubles, and driving in 1 run. Garrison Berkley finished with 2 hits, driving in 1 run. Freshman Ben Lumsden drove in 2 runs on his first homerun on the year and first of his young career. Tyson Pointer finished with 1 hit and drove in the Mavs first run of the ball game. Steven Saunders continued his hot start to the season, chipping in with 2 hits and freshman Ryan Black picked up the first hit of his career.
 
The Islanders struck first, scoring in the bottom of the 2nd, but the Mavericks answered back immediately in the top of the 3rd with 3 runs to go up 3-1. Both teams scored in the 4th to make the score 4-2.
 
UTA added an insurance run in the top of the 7th, while the Islanders scored 1 run in the bottom of the 9th to round out the scoring for the game.
 
NEXT UP
 
The Mavericks have a quick turnaround as they prepare to take on Dallas Baptist on Tuesday, February 21, at Globe Life Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 pm. DBU is 3-0 on the year after sweeping Fordham over the weekend.
 
After the game on Tuesday, the Mavs then travel to Fort Worth to take on #15 TCU on Wednesday, February 22. First pitch is slated for 6 pm. 
 
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