MESA, Ariz. – The UT Arlington baseball team picked up a huge win over the No. 1 overall seed Grand Canyon by a final score of 6-5 to survive and advance in the 2023 WAC Tournament.
 
Coming in, Grand Canyon won the regular season WAC title and was riding a 14-game win streak before falling to the Mavericks.
 
The Mavericks offense stayed red-hot, hammering out 13 hits on the game led by Tyce Armstrong who went 2-4 with a double and three RBIs. Wilson Galvan finished with one hit, a key two-run homerun. Garrison Berkley went 3-5 with a double and a run scored. With the three hits, Berkley now has a team-high 11 hits in the tournament.
 
Matt Cavanagh went 2-4 with a big RBI to end his night. Tyler Rice also went 2-4 at the plate. Tyson Pointer finished with a base hit and scored twice while Ryan Black finished with one hit and one run scored. Cade Sumbler finished with one base hit to round out the offense output for UTA.
 
The Mavs used three pitchers for the game with Brayden Brooks getting the start on the mound and clocked in his best performance of the season so far in a win or go home scenario. Brooks shoved for 5.0 innings to slow down the high-powered GCU offense, giving up three runs on six hits while striking out two to pick up the victory. Caden Noah relieved Brooks and tossed an impressive 3.0 innings, surrendering one run on three hits while punching out two. Gray Bailey threw the final inning, giving up one run on two hits and one strikeout to pick up his sixth save of the year.
 
Brooks settled in on the mound after a leadoff double on the first pitch of the game to retire the next three GCU batters with some help from Galvan in left field who made a spectacular diving catch for the second out of the inning. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Black got the Mavs offense started with a one-out double. Armstrong drove him in on a two-out single to left field to make it a 1-0 game.
 
The top of the 2nd inning ended on a close play at second base where the runner tried to stretch a single into a double on a ball that got away from a diving Rice. Rice got up and delivered a strike to Cavanagh to get the advancing runner. The runner was originally ruled safe but after a challenge by the Mavs, the call was overturned, and the runner was out to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning, the Mavs went down in order.
 
After a scoreless 3rd and top of the 4th, the Mavs started the bottom of the 4th inning with a beautiful bunt single from Pointer which was followed by a rocket off the bat of Galvan. The two-run bomb travelled 383 feet with an exit velocity of 102 mph off the bat, putting UTA up 3-0.
 
GCU would plate three runs in the top of the 5th to tie the game up at three runs apiece. The Mavs responded in the bottom of the inning with three runs of their own. Berkley led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Pointer would draw a walk to move Berkley to second. Armstrong followed it up with a two-run double to right center to score Berkley and Pointer, putting the Mavs up 5-3. Cavanagh would go on to single through the right side to score Armstrong from second to put the Mavs back up by three, 6-3.
 
Noah and the Mavs would escape a jam in the top of the 6th inning. A ground rule double prevented the Lopes from scoring a run. With one out, Noah buckled down and got a foul out to the catcher and a line out to left field to keep GCU off the board.
 
After a scoreless 7th inning for both teams, GCU would plate one run in the top of the 8th to cut the UTA lead down to two, 6-4. To end the 8th, Noah recorded a big-time strikeout to keep the Mavs two-run lead intact.
 
Bailey would enter the game for the Mavs on the mound for an eventful top of the 9th inning. GCU would load the bases before the Mavs recorded the first out, a fly out to left field to bring in the runner from third, making it a 6-5 game. Bailey would punch out the next batter for the second out of the inning. A line out to left field ended the threat and secured the victory for the Mavs.
 
NEXT UP
The No. 6 seed Mavs will play the No. 3 seed Utah Valley Wolverines in a must-win game for UTA. The game is slated for a 9 p.m. (CT) start time on Friday, May 26.
 
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