ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington Maverick baseball club will host the Boston College Eagles at Clay Gould Ballpark this Friday through Sunday, Feb. 23-25. This will be the first matchup between UTA and Boston College in each of the program's history. 
 
QUICK FACTS

• This will be the Mavericks first appearance at their home park this season, Clay Gould Ballpark. Last year, in head coach Clay Van Hook's 1st year of coaching, the Mavericks had a record of 12-9 at home, the best record at home since the shortened 2020 season when the Mavs finished 9-2 at home that season. 
• Throughout five games, newcomer Tate Bethel has made four appearances as a third baseman this season, all coming from the series of the year against UTSA. He currently ranks T-1st on the team with a .333 batting average and has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage at the hot corner. Bethel also made an appearance as a relief pitcher in the 3rd inning against Texas Tech and tossed for 1.1 innings, allowing just 2 hits against 6 batters faced.
• Ryan Ellis, a transfer from the Gaels of Saint Mary's College, is tied for the highest batting average on the team (.333). He also has recorded a hit in all 5 games thus far, the only Maverick to do so on the year.
• Parker Airhart currently leads the team in OPS, slashing .950 throughout five games played. He also leads the team in HRs with 2 so far, half of the team's total.
• Garrison Berkley led the Mavs last year in batting average (.350), OBP (.449), Runs Scored (50) and Hits (70). This season, Berkley sits second to last on the squad in batting average (.190) and has gotten off to a slower start than anticipated. However, last season Berkley got off to a similar start recording a .222 batting average after 5 games in 2023 and dropping to .190 after his 6th game. His four hits thus far match his pace last season after 5 games.
• UTA has notoriously gotten off to a slow start throughout the past few seasons, having not won a series in February since the 2020 season. That series win came against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first series of the season that year, Feb. 14-16, where the Mavs won all three games (7-0), (4-1), (3-1). However, Clay Van Hook looks to turn that around. With a split-series against a challenging UTSA squad, the Mavs are building on tough competition in order to prepare for the WAC tournament. The series against Boston College marks the last weekend in February the Mavs can try and win a series in February for the first time in 4 years.
• Throughout 5 games, UTA has plated 19 runs and have allowed 35 runs for a run differential of -16. In 2023, throughout 5 games, Van Hook's squad only plated 18 runs and allowed 41 runs for a run differential of -23.

CAGE THE EAGLES
Boston College is coming off an impressive series at the MLB Desert Invitational in Scottsdale, Arizona, with wins against Ohio State and the University of California. The Eagles have scored 25 runs and have allowed just 18 runs in three games played. 
 
ON DECK
After the weekend series, the Mavs will down to Huntsville, Texas for a midweek showdown against the Sam Houston Bearkats, Feb. 28. Then, in a quick turn around, the Mavs will head to Beaumont, Texas for a weekend series against Lamar University, Mar. 1-3. 
 
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