ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington baseball team (25-21, 15-9 WAC) scored three runs in the 8th inning to defeat California Baptist (25-23, 13-11) 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark.
With the win, the Mavericks have now won five straight WAC series' as they sit in sole possession of third place in the current WAC standings with a two-game lead over fourth place.
The Mavs trailed 3-2 entering the 7th inning, making this the 10th win on the season when either tied or trailing in the 7th or later, nine of those comebacks coming in conference play. UTA improves to 10-4 for the season in one-run games.
CBU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd while UTA tied it up at a run apiece in the bottom of the 3rd on a
Garrison Berkley RBI single to right center on a 2-1 count.
A scoreless 4th brought us to the 5th, an inning in which the Lancers plated two runs to go up 3-1 on the Mavs. UTA was able to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the 6th inning, plating one run thanks to a
Tyce Armstrong RBI single up the middle to make it a 3-2 ball game. The Mavs tied the game up again in the bottom of the 7th thanks to a
Ryan Black sacrifice fly to make it a 3-3 game.
The Lancers retook the lead in the top of the 8th, scoring two runs to go up 5-3. In the bottom of the 8th the Mavs offense erupted for three runs to take their first lead of the 6-5.
Wilson Galvan stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. On a 2-2 count, Galvan chopped a ball down the third base line that the third baseman corralled but couldn't get Galvan who was flying down the line for a single. The throw got away from the first baseman which allowed all the runners to score and put Galvan on second.
In the 9th, the Lancers got the game tying run on third with two outs and tried to lay down a squeeze bunt to tie the game, but
Gray Bailey smothered the ball and fired it over to first to get the runner by a step for the final out to clinch the win and series for the Mavs.
UTA finished with 10 hits as a team, the 22nd game in which the Mavs have garnered 10 or more hits in a game. Armstrong led the way with another three-hit performance with an RBI for the game.
Galvan finished with three hits for the game which included a double, his eighth on the season. With the three hits, Galvan extended his reached base safely streak to a team and season high 33 games.
Berkley finished with two hits, including a team leading 18th double, as well as an RBI.
Matt Cavanagh and
Tyler Rice each finished with one hit to round out the offensive output for the Mavs.
The Mavs used three pitchers on the afternoon, with
Brayden Brooks getting the start on the mound. Brooks went 4.1 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and punching out five, tying his season high in strikeouts.
Caden Noah picked up the win, his fourth of the season, in relief of Brooks. Noah went 3.2 innings, giving up two unearned runs on two hits and striking out three.
Gray Bailey finished the game for the Mavs, going 1.0 inning and not allowing a run to pick up his fourth save of the season.
NEXT UP
The Mavs are back on the road next week, as they travel down to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns on Tuesday, May 9, at 6:30 p.m. UTA will then travel to Huntsville to take on the first-place Bearkats of Sam Houston in the Mavs last conference road series of the year. The series is scheduled for May 12-14 with game one slated for a 6:30 p.m. start time, game two with a 2 p.m. start time and the finale scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
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