March 15, 2010

Oklahoma Christian Game Notes

ARLINGTON, Texas -

FIRST PITCH
UT Arlington completes its 10-game homestand hosting Oklahoma Christian Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) and Wednesday (3 p.m.) at Clay Gould Ballpark. The Mavericks are coming off a 1-2 weekend against Sam Houston State in both teams' first conference weekend. UT Arlington has lost four of its last five, all of which have been played at home. The Mavericks won the series opener over Sam Houston State (9-6), but then fell 4-3 and 12-7, giving the Bearkats their second straight series over the Mavericks.

INSIDE THE SERIES
UT Arlington and Oklahoma Christian face each other for the first time this week. The Mavericks are 311-128 all-time against Non-NCAA Division I opponents. The Mavericks have played two teams from the Sooner Athletic Conference going 3-1 against Oklahoma City (2-1) and Oklahoma Baptist (1-0). The last time UTA played a team from the SAC was in 1990 (Oklahoma Baptist - W, 4-0).

First Pitch: Tues: 6:30 p.m., Wed: 3 p.m.
All-Time Series N/A
Last Meeting First Meeting in 2010

Stadium Clay Gould Ballpark (1,600)
Dimensions: 330 (LF), 400 (CF), 330 (RF)
Live Stats (GameTracker) www.utamavs.com
Press Box (817) 462-4225

UT ARLINGTON MAVERICKS
Overall Record: 5-10
Conference Record: 1-2
Home Record: 5-7
Away Record: 0-3
Neutral Record: 0-0
Last 5/Last 10: 1-4/3-7
Streak: Lost 2
Rankings: BA: NR/CB: NR/NCBWA: NR/ESPN: NR
Website: www.utamavs.com
Head Coach: Darin Thomas
Career Record: 61-67 (3rd year)
Record at UTA: 61-67 (3rd year)

OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN EAGLES
Overall Record: 10-7
Conference Record: 6-3
Home Record: 5-4
Away Record: 5-3
Neutral Record: 0-0
Last 5/Last 10: 4-1/7-3
Streak: Won 1
Rankings: NAIA: NR
Website: www.oceagles.com
Head Coach: Chuck White
Career Record: 43-60 (3rd year)
Record at School: 43-60 (3rd year)

PROBABLE STARTERS
TUESDAY, MARCH 16
Pitcher W-L ERA K/BB
Mark Picca (LHP) 0-1 8.74 11/4
TBA N/A N/A N/A

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17
Pitcher W-L ERA K/BB
TBA N/A N/A N/A
TBA N/A N/A N/A

UT ARLINGTON VS. NON-DIVISION I OPPONENTS (SOONER ATHLETIC CONFERENCE)
UT Arlington is 311-128 all-time against non-NCAA Division I opponents. Last season the Mavericks went 2-0 against NAIA teams, defeating Iowa Wesleyan (7-1) and Northwood (23-7), both at Clay Gould Ballpark. UT Arlington is 3-1 all-time against teams from the Sooner Athletic Conference having played Oklahoma City (2-1) and Oklahoma Baptist (1-0). The Mavs last game against a SAC opponent was in a 4-0 victory over Oklahoma Baptist on March 22, 1990 in Arlington.

MAVERICKS IN SEARCH OF FIRST MIDWEEK VICTORY
UT Arlington has started the season 0-3 in midweek games, dropping their first midweek game at No. 17 Oklahoma (4-3) and then losing at home last week against No. 7 TCU (15-2) and Creighton (11-5). Last season UTA went 9-9 in midweek games.

TAKING A LOOK BACK
UT Arlington opened Southland Conference play with a 9-6 victory over Sam Houston State and then lost the series with a 9-6 loss on Saturday and a 12-7 loss in the series finale on Sunday. The Mavericks were led by right-handed pitcher Jason Mitchell who went 7.0 innings in the Mavs' win on Friday. Mitchell allowed six runs, but none of the runs were earned. He finished the game with nine strikeouts. Rett Varner pitched 8.0 innings but was the losing pitcher on Saturday as the Bearkats always answered following a Maverick run. Sam Houston State put the game away with an RBI base hit in the eighth inning. The Bearkats won the series with a 12-7 victory on Sunday while scoring eight runs in the first inning. Five SHSU players had multi-hit games while Michael Choice (3-for-5) and Chad Comer (2-for-4) led the way for UTA at the plate.

ON THE HORIZON
The Mavericks play their first weekend road series this weekend (March 19-21) at UTSA. The Mavericks open their series with the Roadrunners on Friday at 6 p.m. and continue the series Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.). Last year the Mavericks took two out of three from UTSA in Arlington.

Jason Mitchell: STRIKEOUT WATCH
Jason Mitchell is on pace to shatter the UT Arlington all-time single-season strikeout record with 37 strikeouts in four starts. Mitchell is averaging 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings. He leads the Mavericks with a 1.33 ERA in 27.0 innings. He has combined on one shutout and has allowed only 25 base hits and 14 runs (4 earned runs). Mitchell has issued only five walks while opponents are batting .229 against him. Just last season Nathan Long broke the UTA single-season strikeout record with 104 strikeouts. In Long's first four starts last season he had 25 strikeouts. Long finished his senior season leading the Southland Conference and was drafted in the 26th round by the Oakland Athletics.

MITCHELL ABOUT TO MATCH 2009 STRIKEOUT TOTAL
In his first season at UT Arlington in 2009, Jason Mitchell struck out 42 batters in 58.1 innings pitched. Already in 2010, Mitchell has a conference leading 37 strikeouts in 27.0 innings pitched. Mitchell's career-high for strikeouts in a game entering the season was 6, already this season Mitchell has struck out six or more batters in his last three outings. Only on four occasions in 2009 did Mitchell strikeout four or more batters.

Logan Bawcom COMES THROUGH IN A PINCH
Junior Logan Bawcom hit a two-run, pinch-hit home run down the right-field line on Sunday against Sam Houston State. It was Bawcom's first career home run and was the first pinch-hit home run for the Mavericks since last year when Eric Wright hit a solo home run to left field at Louisiana-Monroe (3/10/09), which was also hit in the ninth inning.

Steffan Guest HAS CAREER-HIGH HIT STREAK SNAPPED AT 15 GAMES
Senior designated hitter Steffan Guest had his career-high hit streak snapped at 15 games going 0-for-4 with a walk in the series finale against Sam Houston State. Guest tallied a base hit in the first 14 games of the season and in his only at-bat last season against TCU (3/3/09). Guest recorded a .387 batting average (24-for-62) with five doubles, a home run and 17 RBI during his 15-game streak.

Michael Choice CLOSES IN ON UTA SINGLE-SEASON INTENTIONAL WALKS RECORD
Michael Choice has already recorded six intentional walks this season in only 15 games played. The all-time single-season record for intentional walks is seven by former Maverick and current Seattle Mariners catcher Adam Moore. In 2006, Moore broke the UTA intentional walks record and received a total of 31 walks.

Michael Choice CONTINUES STREAK: 27 STRAIGHT GAMES REACHING BASE SAFELY
Michael Choice has reached base safely in 27 straight games dating back to last season. The last game Choice did not reach base was last season against Oklahoma State (4/28/09) where he went 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. He finished the 2009 season with a 12-game hit streak and this season has hit safely in 11 of 15 games. In the four games this season Choice hasn't recorded a base hit he has tallied nine walks, and he had a four walks against Missouri State (2/26).

CHOICE CLIMBS UTA ALL-TIME CAREER RECORD BOOKS
Michael Choice moved into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time UTA career home run record book with his 23rd career home run against TCU. Choice is now one home run behind Richard Wilkinson (24, 1977-80) for fourth place and three behind Ryan Roberts (26, 2002-03) for third place. Matt Mize (31, 1998-99) and Craig Martin (27, 1998-2001) are the top two on the career home run list. Choice is in ninth place on the all-time career RBI list with 118. With just one RBI Choice will tie Pat Varni (119, 1986-89) for eighth on the list. Choice moved into ninth place on the career total bases chart with 294. He now needs eight total