Feb. 17, 2006

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas - Redshirt freshman left-hander Austin Bridges made his debut on the Clay Gould Ballpark mound and did not dissapoint as he helped Texas-Arlington put an end to a three-game losing streak with a 7-5 victory over Oral Roberts Friday afternoon in the Hilton Arlington/UTA Invitational.

"We needed a great pitching performance after what happened last night and at Baylor," said head coach Jeff Curtis. "Austin came out and did a great job throwing strikes, keeping them off balance with his off speed pitches cause it was a terrible day to pitch with the weather. The other guys that came in, Gainley and Taylor, did exactly what they need to do for us to get some confidence."

"When you got a guy on the mound that can keep you in the game and pitch with some courage the rest of the team is going to have that the rest of the game. They did a great job and came up with some clutch hits."

Bridges (2-0) picked up the victory as he allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits with four strikeouts in six innings of work.

"It was a really great offensive team effort," said Bridges. "Our offense put up seven runs. I pitched well, but, like I said, it was more offense today than it was pitching."

The Mavs (3-3) wiggled out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the first and responded with three runs of their own in the home half of the inning. James Smith started things by being hit by a pitch. David McLeod sacrificed the runner over and Adam Moore drew a four-pitch walk. Justin Stevens drove in the first run with a single through the right side. Colin Booher followed with a single back through the box to drive in the second run. Robby Winn put runners on second and third with a groundout before Daniel Rieder drove in a pair of runs as he fought off a pitch in on his hands and muscled it over the head of the shortstop.

The Golden Eagles struck again in the sixth inning as Tim Torres started the inning with a single up the middle and scored on Andy Bouchie's towering home run down the left field line.

UTA got the two runs back in the home half of the inning as Booher singled through the right side and advanced to third as Winn reached second on a throwing error by the third baseman. Rieder walked to load the bases and Kyle Rudy drew a bases loaded walk. Brock Wilson drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Winn from third.

ORU got another run in the seventh as Duffy started the inning with a double down the lefi field line and scored on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly to center field from Minissale.

The Mavs answered once again in the home half of the inning as Moore extended his hit-streak to six games with a single to right field and was followed up by a Stevens walk. Booher sacrificed the runners over before Moore was erased at home on fielder's choice. Rieder drove in his third run of the game with a single down the left field line.

The Golden Eagles threatened in the ninth inning as they loaded the bases with one out, but only managed a Bouchie sacrifice fly.

Booher led the Mavs offense with three hits and two runs scored, while Rieder collected a pair of hits and drove in three runs.

Austin McIntyre (1-1) took the loss for the Golden Eagles as he allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits in five innings of work. Chris Taylor picked up his second save as he allowed one hit and struck out one in one inning of work.

The Mavs return to action on Feb. 21 as they host Texas A&M. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark.