RICHARDSON, TX (04.10.09) – The UT Dallas baseball team assured itself of a third place finish in the American Southwest Conference East Division race this weekend, sweeping a three-game series from LeTourneau with one week left in the regular season.

The Comets (20-15) broke the 20-win barrier for the eighth straight season and improved to 9-6 in the ASC East race. Even with a road series against East Texas Baptist to wrap up the regular season next week, UTD does not have a chance to improve on its No. 3 seed after second-place Mississippi College swept fourth-place University of the Ozarks this weekend. UTD holds a tiebreaker edge on Ozarks, which ended its regular season conference schedule with a 9-9 mark. The Comets could still theoretically catch 12-3 Mississippi, but would lose the tiebreaker with the Choctaws.

The East Division's No. 3 team would open the ASC Championship playoffs in two weeks with a three-game road series against the West Division's No. 2 seed.

UTD assured itself of a playoff spot with the three-game sweep of LeTourneau (10-19, 3-9), winning the opener Thursday, 7-3; then outscoring the YellowJackets twice Friday, 20-8 and 14-9. The Comets blistered LETU pitchers for 33 hits in two games Saturday, knocking seven balls out of the park. UTD had nine homeruns for the weekend, including one in each game from Chris Biguenet, who has now homered in four straight games.

For the weekend, UTD also added six doubles and a triple. Cody Ross finished the weekend 8-for-12 with a double, triple, two home runs and seven RBI.

GAME 1: UTD 7, LETU 3 (boxscore)

UTD got back-to-back home runs from Adam Hudec and Biguenet in a six-run 6th inning Thursday, breaking open what had been a tight 1-0 game until that point. The Comets took a 1-0 lead it would never surrender in the 2nd inning when Hudec singled and scored an unearned run on a failed pickoff attempt at third. Then, in the 6th, the Comets chased LETU starter Ed Hurta with five hits to open the inning. Randy Lorber and Cody Ross both singled, then scored on Hudec's home run. An error and another single put two runners on before Biguenet went deep to break the game open.

Starter Mason Thompson (W, 3-2) allowed just three hits through his first seven innings and got solid defense behind him as the Comets turned a pair of double plays and picked off two baserunners. LETU finally got to Thompson in the 8th with three hits and a double to push across two runs.

Hudec finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI.

GAME 2: UTD 20, LETU 8 (boxscore)

Senior Drew Waggoner was not at his best in his final home start on the mound, but it didn't matter as UTD scored in every inning of the seven-inning middle game of the series. Waggoner gave up 10 hits and seven runs in just five innings of work, but the Comets had built a 17-7 lead by that time.

UTD jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the 1st when the first six hitters reached base. They added two more in the 2nd on a Ross home run, then put up three in the 3rd when Biguenet went deep for a two-run shot. Jake Eisman and Johnnie Martinez drove in runs in the 4th before a 11-batter inning pushed six more runs home in the 5th.

With a pair of walks in the seven inning game, Ross finished just a single short of hitting for the cycle as he finished with a double, home run and triple.

GAME 3: UTD 14, LETU 9 (boxscore)

In the series, LETU tried to keep up with the Comets, belting out 16 hits, including three home runs. But again, UTD was better, putting 14 runs on the board behind 18 hits, including five home runs. LETU actually jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st, but UTD answered with seven runs in the bottom of the frame after Matt Kelly and Jacob Starnes hit home runs.

The YellowJackets cut UTD's lead to 8-5 in the 3rd, but UTD tallied four more runs in the bottom of the inning. paced by a three-run shot from Ross. With a 13-5 lead going into the 6th, the Comets let LETU make it interesting by cutting the lead to 13-9 in the 7th. Jonathan Reeder, appearing in his third straight game, came in to relieve starter Damion Chelakis and stopped the Jackets over the next two innings before Adam Spinn closed the door in the 9th.