RICHARDSON, TX (03.24.15) - The UT Dallas baseball team extended its winning streak to seven games Tuesday afternoon with a 9-2 home win over rival Texas-Tyler to wrap up a three-game American Southwest Conference series sweep.
The Comets (now 11-10, 8-4 ASC) got another strong pitching performance as three UTD pitchers scattered eight hits and did not allow a Patriot run until the top of the 9th frame.
Aaron Bach (3-1) picked up the win after tossing six scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Michael Ward added two scoreless frames before
Andrew Leilich allowed two runs in the 9th on a hit and a walk. In the three games, UTD allowed just three runs to the Patriots, holding UTT to a .198 team batting average.
UTD opened the scoring in the 1st with an RBI single by
Brandon George, scoring
Jimmy Norris. The single would start a strong day from the plate for George as he finished the game 4-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored - including a two-run home run in the 5th inning.
Norris doubled the Comets' lead in the 2nd with an RBI single, scoring
Ryan Downs, and George lifted UTD to a 4-0 lead with a two-run homer, his second of the year, in the 5th. UTD then added a five-run sixth inning - taking advantage of just two hits, but five walks - to put the game out of reach and lock up the series sweep. The Comets opened the scoring in the 6th with a bases-loaded walk by
Tim Cole, scoring Downs, and added RBI single by George, a run-scoring groundout by
Brandon Clounch and a two-run single by
Pierce Fly.
The Patriots (now 14-8, 10-5 ASC) - who had scored just one game through the first 24 innings of the series - finally got on the scoreboard with a run on a bases-loaded wild pitch with no outs in the 9th and added the final run on a RBI groundout by Derick Smith, scoring Sam Lane.
George was one of two Comets with a multi-hit game as Norris finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. UTD finished with 10 hits and drew six walks.
The Comets return to action this weekend with a three-game series at Sul Ross State. The two teams open the series with a single game at 7 p.m. Friday before a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Alpine on Saturday.