RICHARDSON, TX (02.11.12) - The UT Dallas baseball team, which dropped the first two games of its season-opening series with Hardin-Simmons University, got a walkoff double from third baseman
Jacob Price in the series' finale to give UTD its first win of the season Saturday afternoon.
In the Friday opener, UTD could not overcome five errors as the Comets dropped a 7-4 decision to the Cowboys. The Comets then left the tying run on base in their final at-bat of the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, falling 3-2. Price's game-winner salvaged the series with a 2-1 win in the Game 3.
UTD (1-2) struggled scoring runs against a trio of HSU (2-1) starters during the series, but got solid efforts from all three of their own. The UTD starting trio of
Derek Dallas,
Jason Fink and
Marvin Prestridge gave up just 17 hits combined in the three games and struck out a combined 22 Cowboy hitters.
Price,
Chase Brown and
Jake Wyand each had a 2-for-3 game during the series.
FRIDAY: HSU 7, UTD 4 (
BOX SCORE)
UTD opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when Elisha Settoon plated
Kyle Guest with a sacrifice fly to centerfield. The Cowboys responded, though, in the top of the next frame with a two-run home run by Troy Tarrant, his first of two on the afternoon, to snag a 2-1 advantage.
Chase Brown helped the Comets counter in the bottom of the third with a two-out double to right-centerfield, scoring
Zak Anderson from first base, to knot the game, 2-2.
The Cowboys took the lead for good in the top of the fifth on Tarrant's second long ball, also a two-run shot, giving HSU a 4-2 advantage. UTD answered with a run in the bottom of the frame as
Jacob Price opened the Comets' half with a lead-off homer, but HSU added another run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to pull away. UTD added one more run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Guest, scoring
Daniel Saxon.
Junior
Derek Dallas (0-1) was handed the loss for the Comets, giving up five earned runs on seven hits in a 6.0-inning start. Dallas struck out eight Cowboys without issuing a walk.
Zach Dickson tossed the final three frames, allowing a pair of unearned runs on three hits. Dickson fanned four HSU hitters and gave up a pair of walks. Brown led the Comets offensively, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
For HSU, Troy Nicholson (1-0) earned the win as he gave up three earned runs on six hits. Nicholson struck out five Comets without issuing a walk. Tyler Brunnemann picked up the save, retiring the only four batters he faced via strikeout. Tarrant finished the afternoon 4-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored.
SATURDAY DH (GAME 1): HSU 3, UTD 2 (BOX SCORE)
The Comets looked handcuffed against HSU starter Blake Sieck, who shut down UTD's hitters for five innings while the Cowboys slowly built a 3-0 lead. But sophomore
Jason Fink kept the Comets as close as he could, avoiding the big inning long enough for UTD to have a chance to rally late. The Comets put single runs on the board in the 6th and 7th inning of the seven-inning game, and had the tying run on base with just one out before Brunnemann again stopped the Comet rally with a ground ball and a strikeout.
HSU got the first run of the game in the second, but could have had more. HSU had runners at the corners with no one out after a leadoff double and a wild pitch on a strikeout. Troy Nicholson came around to score on a Kyle Bartlett single, but Fink ended the threat with back-to-back strikeouts.
In the 4th, Bartlett again did damage, rifling a triple to right field that scored Andrew Rehling (Fink's only walk of the game), making it 2-0. Fink rebounded with a shallow fly ball and another strikeout to strand Bartlett at third.
HSU made it 3-0 in the top of the 6th after a leadoff double and a two-out RBI single from Bartlett, but Fink got out of the jam with a ground ball.
The Comets had managed just three hits going into the bottom of the 6th, but got a break with a fielding and a throwing error on HSU shortstop Marcus Uechi put
Daniel Saxon at second with no outs. Saxon went to third on the first of two wild pitches in the inning, and scored an unearned run on the second one with two outs.
In the 7th, the Comets got a leadoff single from Wyand, who scored when pinch-hitter
Kaleb Robinson doubled deep to left field. Robinson moved to third on a ground ball, but was left stranded to end the game.
Fink gave up just five hits in his six-inning start, striking out eight, but took the loss. Wyand was 2-for-3 at the plate.
SATURDAY DH (GAME 2): UTD 2, HSU 1 (BOX SCORE)
The Comets managed just two runs, but it was plenty as the third member of the Comet pitching trio -
Marvin Prestridge - scattered six hits and struck out six in a six- inning start, and set the stage for the 7th-inning heroics.
After giving up just multiple hits one time, the Comets again entered the 6th inning behind. HSU got a leadoff double from Jon Finney to open the 3rd inning, and he scored on a Austin Cantwell single to put the Cowboys ahead, 1-0.
In the 6th, UTD tied the score. Leadoff hitter
Jacob Starnes, who had struggled at the plate in the first two games, singled to open the inning and was sacrificed to second base. Brown delivered towering double down the right field line to score Starnes, but he missed the opportunity to be the potential go-ahead run when the HSU defense gunned him down trying to stretch the play into a triple.
In the 7th,
Kyle Guest worked a 3-2 count and singled up the middle to give the Comets the potential winning run. Wyand sacrificed Guest into scoring position and Price delivered the game-winning double to left field.
Price and Starnes were both 2-for-3 in the first win of the year.
UTD travels next week to Arizona for a weekend tournament where they will face four teams from the West Coast, then is at the University of Dallas on Feb. 22. The Comets return home for a three-game series with Sul Ross State on Feb. 24-25.
