>>FIELD ANNOUNCED FOR 2010 BASEBALL PLAYOFFS  (LINK HERE)

PINEVILLE, LA (04.24.10)  - A week ago, the UT Dallas baseball team clinched a berth in the American Southwest Conference playoffs and needed only one win in their final regular-season series at Louisiana College to clinch the East Division's No. 3 seed.

That's...uh, not exactly how things worked out.

After a three-game sweep by the Wildcats, the Comets will head into their seventh ASC tournament in the last eight years as the No. 4 seed out of the East and face the West Division's top seed, Texas Lutheran (29-11, 15-6), in a first round series beginning Friday, April 30 in Seguin, TX.

UTD dropped a pair of vital contests to LC on Friday, falling 16-0 and 5-4, then lost 6-3 in the finale on  Saturday. The losses downgraded  UTD (23-14, 9-8) to the fourth slot in the standings and moved LC (18-21, 10-8) ahead of the Comets by a half-game. UTD has played one less conference game than LC due to rainouts earlier this season.

The sweep also snapped an 8-game UTD win streak. The Comets had won nine of their last 10 entering the series.

Friday, April 23

GAME 1: LC 16, UTD 0 (Boxscore)

Louisiana College freshman left-hander Anthony VanGessel held the league's second-best hitting offense (.353 team batting average) to just seven hits while his teammates pummeled three UTD pitchers with 16 hits and 16 runs, including five unearned runs after the Comet defense committed a pair of late errors.

LC scored all the runs they would need in the 1st inning, added three more heading into the late stages of the seven-inning game, then exploded for 11 runs in the final two frames.

The Comets never really got on track, putting together multiple hits in just one inning. Larry Bolding (3-3) gave up seven runs in just four innings work before giving way to relievers who didn't have any better success.

Kyle Guest went 3-for-3 for the Comets at the plate, but only four other UTD players had base hits against VanGessel, who went the distance and improved to 5-3 on the season.

GAME 2: LC 5, UTD 4 (Boxscore)

The Comets didn't have much better luck getting their offense on track in the second game of the Friday doubleheader, which was moved up due to possible thunderstorms in the area. Still, the Comets had staked starter Cameron Brown to a 3-1 lead heading to the bottom of the 6th.

That's when things came unraveled for Brown and UTD. Three hits, a walk and a fielding error allowed the Wildcats to plate three and reclaim the lead at 4-3. They added another run in the 7th to get a late two-run cushion and that was all it took as the Comets managed just one more run the rest of the way.

UTD was undone by an inability to get runs home, pounding out 11 hits and working five walks, but leaving 13 baserunners aboard over the extent of the game. The Comets had a pair of runners in scoring position in the 2nd, but had two hitters strike out. They loaded the bases up in both the 5th and 6th innings, but got just one run out of the threats.

The Comets' runs came with RBI's from Ryan Miner and Jacob Starnes in the 4th, a sacrifice fly by Drew Hallford in the 6th and an infield RBI hit from Randy Lorber in the 8th. Lorber bounced back after an 0-for-4 Game 1 to go 3-for-5 with an RBI to lead the Comets.

Saturday, April 24

GAME 3: LC 6, UTD 3 (Boxscore)

The Comets out-hit LC 16-10 in Saturday's finale, but it wasn't enough to top the upstart Wildcats, who became the second East Division team to sweep UTD in a three-game series this spring. First-place UT-Tyler did so three weeks ago.

Guest and Joseph Killgore rapped run-scoring base hits in the 1st, though UTD's early lead vanished in the bottom of the inning -- and was never rebuilt.

By the time the 9th inning rolled around, the Wildcats constructed a 6-2 lead after shutting out the Comets for seven straight frames. Marvin Prestridge (4-1) allowed five of LC's runs, Jonathan Reeder and Mason Thompson logged solid relief time, and UTD's offense, quite simply, could not back them up. Or at least capitalize on its opportunities.

The Comets stranded 12 runners throughout, shelling LC starter -- and freshman -- Grant Cox for 15 hits in the opening 6 2/3 innings. Starnes and Clint Dunham each had three hits, Killgore recorded a game-high four pokes, while the Comets batted .390 as a team.

Prestridge was handed his first loss of the year on the mound.