April 25, 2008

Final Stats

NATCHITOCHES, LA. - - UT Arlington's baseball team couldn't muster much offense Friday against one of the top pitchers in the Southland Conference, and a two-homer fifth inning by Northwestern State helped lead to an 8-2 Mavericks loss.

UTA tries to even the Southland Conference series in Game 2 on Saturday at Brown-Stroud Field in Natchitoches, La. First pitch in that contest is set for 2 p.m.

Game 3 has been moved to Saturday as well because of the possibility of heavy rain on Sunday. The final game will be 30 minutes after Game 2.

Jimmy Heard (6-2) earned the victory on Friday for the Demons, tossing 7 1/3 innings and allowing one run on six hits. For the Mavericks, junior left-hander Ryan Robinson (4-4) had his three-game conference win streak snapped.

The Mavericks (19-22, 10-9 in the SLC) were hurt by a hit batter and walk in the second inning, which helped lead to an early three-run lead for Northwestern State (22-18, 13-5). Anthony Jones led the inning with a single to left. Chase Lyles walked, and Brett Johnson followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Robinson hit Dylan Libadisos to load the bases.

With two runners in scoring position, Joe Urtuzuastegui smacked a single to left, making it 2-0. A two-out hit by Jordan Nipp made it 3-0.

The SLC East Division-leading Demons added two more in the fifth, helped by an error to lead off the inning and a bloop single to follow. Again, the Demons successfully bunted the runners over, then got a timely hit to make it 5-0. That was the end of Robinson's day as Mavericks head coach Darin Thomas turned the ball over to freshman left-hander Mark Picca.

UTA's offense woke up a bit in the fifth. Danny Slinkman smashed a two-hopper down the first-base line. The ball was knocked down by Demons first baseman Mike Jaworski, but it was too hot to handle cleanly and the Mavericks had their first hit of the game. Matt Otteman followed with a hard single up the middle. But the threat ended on a double-play and grounder back to the mound.

UTA got one back in the seventh when Brock Wilson drove a Heard pitch to the wall in left-center, and David McLeod followed with a run-scoring single to make it 8-1.

The Mavericks put two runners on in the top of the eighth with one out, forcing Heard from the game. A Collin Garner fielder's choice off J.C. Bredengerd made it 8-2, but a strikeout stranded two runners.