RICHARDSON, TX (04.13.19) - The No. 13-ranked UT Dallas baseball team earned a pair of lopsided victories Thursday afternoon as the Comets swept Louisiana College, 14-5 and 8-0, to open a three-game American Southwest Conference series.
The Comets (24-8, 13-4 ASC) will close the set with LC Friday with a 12 p.m. single game at the UTD Baseball Field. With the two losses, LC fell to 18-14 overall and 9-11 in ASC play.
GAME 1 - UTD 14, LC 5
The Comets scored in every inning except one while junior right-hander
Ruben Renteria improved to 8-0 on the mound in a 14-5 win over Louisiana College to open Thursday's twin bill.
UTD jumped out a quick 9-0 lead after two innings, thanks to seven runs on a pair of home runs, before the Wildcats plated five runs in the 3rd to draw back within four. The Comets, however, answered with a run in each the 3rd and 5th and three runs in the 6th to pull away for the victory.
The Comets opened the scoring five runs in the 1st on back-to-back pitches. After a bases-loaded, two-run single to left by
Luke Richter,
Patch Healy belted his first home run of the season, a three-run shot to left, to give UTD a very quick 5-0 lead. The Comets then collected the second grand slam of the season by
Connor Scruggs in the 2nd frame, a one-out moon shot to left field.
After the visiting Wildcats scored five runs on five hits in the 3rd, UTD bounced back with an RBI infield single by
Josh Covey in the bottom of the frame and extended its lead to 11-5 in the 5th on a
Isaiah Swann RBI single. The Comets used four-straight singles in the the 6th with
Michael Morton,
Edmundo Ojeda and Swann each picking up an RBI.
Renteria would toss 6.0 innings, giving up five earned runs on nine hits, with three strikeouts.
Drew Thompson tossed a perfect 7th to finish the contest. Covey was 4-for-5 from the lead-off spot while Swann was 3-for-3 from the two hole. Healy was 2-for-3 while Richter was 2-for-4.
GAME 2 - UTD 8, LC 0
The Comets slowly took a 3-0 lead through six innings before erupting for a five-run 7th frame in an 8-0 win over LC to close the doubleheader with the Wildcats.
Junior right-hander
Jamie Andriot (7-0) held the Wildcats to just two hits and he faced the minimum over the final six innings. After giving up two walks in the 1st, two singles in the 2nd and two more walks in the 3rd, Andriot allowed just one runner to reach for the remainder of the game, on an error, but the LC runner was doubled up on a fly ball. Andriot struck out four batters in his first complete-game shutout of the season.
The Comets opened the scoring in the 1st with an RBI single by
Mitch Barati, scoring
Barry Casey. Richter picked up RBI in both the 4th and 6th to extend the UTD lead to 3-0. In the 4th, Richter brought home Scruggs with a ground out to shortstop. Richter then doubled in Scruggs in the 6th.
UTD would then use five hits to plate five runs in the 7th to pull away. The Comets opened the frame with three straight singles to load the bases before Casey brought home two with a double down the left field line. After a pitching change, Scruggs used a triple to right to plate two more runs. The Comets ended the scoring when Scruggs came home on a wild pitch two batters later.
Scruggs was 3-for-5 with three runs scored adn two RBI while Casey wsa 2-for-4.
