Box Score SHERMAN, TX (03.05.13) - The UT Dallas baseball team, which began its season with a 2-6 skid, completed the turnaround Tuesday night, reaching the .500 mark for the first time this season with a 9-3 road win at Austin College.
The Comets (now 8-8) led from start to finish, pounding out 15 hits against a foursome of Kangaroo pitcher while four UTD hurlers held AC (3-16) to just five hits on its home field.
Six UTD hitters finished with multi-hit nights, including a 3-for-3 game from senior designated hitter
Jacob Price, who was also one of three players with two RBI.
Tanner Gandy was 3-for-4 while
Daniel Saxon, Timothy Cole,
Brandon Clounch, and
Alex Luna all finished with two hits apiece.
Sophomore
Michael Ward was credited with the win in relief of starter
Tyler Dauer.
UTD led 3-0 early and answered Austin College's only scoring in the third and fourth inning before opening up the lead with a four-run eighth inning.
After a scoreless first inning, UTD took a 1-0 advantage in the second with three hits and an AC error. In the third,
Zak Anderson walked, stole second, went to third on a passed ball, then made it 2-0 on a wild pitch. Price then drove in Cole to give UTD a 3-0 edge.
AC didn't let things get too far out of hand by scoring a pair in the third. With two outs, the 'Roos put together three straight hits, including back-to-back RBI doubles, to cut the lead down to 3-2.
The Comets answered immediately with another run in the fourth.
Matt Olszewski staked UTD out to a two-run cushion (4-2) with an RBI single, scoring Gandy. After AC cut the lead back to one with another single run in the fourth, UTD pulled away with another answer in the sixth. Price was hit by a pitch, went to second on a passed ball, then scored on an Easterling single.
With a 5-3 advantage, the Comets erased any doubt with a four-run outburst in the top of the eighth. Price's RBI single drove in Cole with the first run, then Clounch came home on a Luna RBI single. Luna and Price both scored when AC committed its second error of the game on a ball put in play by Olszewski.
Back-to-back singles to open the ninth gave the Comets another opportunity, but the 'Roos were able to stop the threat with a double play.
The Comets open American Southwest Conference East Division play Friday and Saturday with a three-game series at the University of the Ozarks.
