ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington baseball team (15-16, 5-5 WAC) claimed the first game of a three-game series against Utah Tech (8-21, 3-7 WAC) by a final score of 8-7.
In a back-and-forth game where there were five lead changes and three ties, UTA managed to take a one run lead in the bottom of the 8th before shutting the door on the Trailblazers to earn the victory and match their win total from a season a ago with 24 games left in the season.
Gabe Starks (ND) started on the mound for the Mavericks, tossing a strong 5.0 innings while matching his season total in strikeouts with eight and giving up four runs on four hits.
Jack Hagan (W, 5-0) relieved Starks and went 3.0 quality innings, striking out three while surrendering three runs on three hits.
Gray Bailey entered in the 9th inning, giving up one hit and punching out two Trailblazers batters to earn his second save of the season. That makes two saves in the last two games for Bailey.
Offensively, the Mavs plated eight runs on eight hits.
Garrison Berkley finished with two hits and scored three runs while also swiping his fifth bag on the season.
Ben Lumsden drove in one run on two hits, a double and a triple, and drew two walks while also scoring three runs.
Ryan Black extended his hitting streak to four games, finishing tonight with one hit and driving in one run to go along with scoring two runs and drawing two walks.
Tyson Pointer and
Tyler Rice both finished with one hit and one RBI on the night.
Reed Thomas finished the game with one RBI.
Sam Crowell entered the game for starting catcher
Cade Sumbler, with Crowell finishing the game with a base hit and one RBI.
UTA plated two runs in the bottom of the 1st thanks to a Lumsden triple to score Berkley and a Pointer single to bring in Lumsden. The Mavs are outscoring their opponents 30-9 in the 1st inning for the season.
Starks settled in and started cruising before running into trouble in the 4th, with Utah Tech tying the game up at two runs apiece. The Trailblazers would go up two runs in the top of the 5th, 4-2.
The Mavericks would tie the game back up in the 6th inning, 4-4. Black hit his 10th double of the season to score Lumsden to make it 4-3. UTA would load the bases up and bring in the tying run on a walk to Thomas to score Black.
Utah Tech regained the lead in the top of the 7th inning, plating two runs to make the score 6-4. The Mavs would go on to respond, scoring three runs to regain the lead in the bottom of the 7th, making it a 7-6 ball game. A Crowell single to center field would plate two runs before a Rice single through the right side brought in the go ahead run.
In the 8th, both teams exchanged runs. Crowell reached base on a throwing error by the second baseman to score Berkley and give the Mavs the lead for the final time, as they shut the door on the Trailblazers in the 9th to earn the victory.
NEXT UP
Game two of this three-game WAC series is tomorrow, April 7, with a 5:30 start time. The Mavs are looking to win three in a row.
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