AUSTIN, TX (05.07.16) - The UT Dallas baseball team will play for a chance at the 2016 American Southwest Conference Championship Series Sunday after continuing its offensive onslaught Saturday night in a 12-8 elimination game win over top-seeded Concordia Texas.

The Comets (23-19) will face UT Tyler at 1 pm Sunday afternoon at Concordia's Tornado Field in the final games of the ASC's Blue Bracket. UTD will need to win twice over UTT to claim the bracket and advance to next weekend's Championship Series.

The Comets overcame a sloppy start, falling behind 4-0 early, but responded with nine runs over the next four innings and held off a determined rally by the ASC regular season champions to advance. UTD pounded out a season-record 21 hits in the win, finishing the day (after an earlier Saturday win over LeTourneau) with 26 runs scored on 36 hits combined. Every Comet got at least one hit in the nightcap and seven finished with multi-hit nights. UTD pounded out seven doubles in the game.

 

Haden Johnson led the onslaught with a 4-for-6 night while David McKenzie drove in a team-high four runs with a 3-for-3 start. Brandon George and Mitch Barati each had three hits, including a pair of doubles each. Jimmy Norris, Tim Cole and Josh Covey each tallied two hits.

Equally as impressive was the work of reliever Zach Bomer, who took over on the mound in the 5th inning. Bomer picked up his third win of the season in 4.2 innings of relief, giving up just one run on four hits in 4.2 innings, his longest outing of the season. Starter Jordan Murphy, who gave up just four earned runs in his 4.1-inning start, left with a lead but did not qualify for the win.

"The bats really showed up today," head coach Shane Shewmake said after the two wins. "We're where we wanted to be when we got here, playing for a chance at a conference title."

The Comets fell into an early 4-0 hole, opening the door for the Tornados with a pair of errors that led to three unearned runs in the 1st inning. The first occurred on a potential inning-ending double play ball, and CTX responded afterwards with a two-run RBI to jump on top. A second throwing error extended the inning and the Tornados plated two more runs before UTD could get out of the sloppy start.
 
But the Comets came roaring back in their half of the 2^nd. Five straight hits, including consecutive doubles from Ryan Burciaga, David McKenzie and Mitch Barati followed by an RBI bunt single from Josh Covey knotted the score at 4-4.
 
UTD continued its onslaught in the 3^rd, going up 7-3 after a three-run, three-hit frame. Brandon George led off the inning with UTD's fourth double of the game and later scored on a throwing error after Haden Johnson's infield single. McKenzie then brought home two with an RBI single to right field.
 
The Comets added another run in the 4^th. With two outs, George and Nick Marti singled, forcing a pitching change. But Johnson delivered again with an RBI single to right field to score George and doubled up the score at 8-4.
 
Concordia got a run back in their half of the 4^th. A leadoff double moved around the bases and came home on a wild pitch. But UTD answered immediately to go up 9-5 in their half of the 5^th. McKenzie singled to right, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and passed ball, and scored on a Norris shot through the left side on a 3-2 pitch.
 
But the Tornados were not done, and made it a one-run game (9-8) in their half of the 5^th.  A 2-RBI double scored two and another came home on a steal while the Comet defense chased down another baserunner in a rundown.
 
The Comets got one back in the 7^th with a two-out RBI single from Tim Cole to score Josh Covey. UTD worked the bases loaded, but could not get another run across and settled for a 10-8 lead.
 
The Tornados assembled a huge threat in the 7^th, loading the bases with one out, but UTD third baseman Ryan Buriaga started a 5-3 double play, grabbing a chopper and stepping on the bag before gunning out the CTX hitter at first on a close play.
 
The Comets added another run to their lead in the 8^th with an RBI infield single by Covey that scored Burciaga to make it 11-8. Concordia threatened in the bottom of the 8^th, but Covey made a dramatic catch in center for the 2^nd out, then Bomer finished off the inning with a strikeout looking
 
In the final inning, George led off with UTD's seventh double of the game and came around after a pair of errors on Concordia errors to make it 12-8.