RICHARDSON, TX (04.28.17) - The UT Dallas baseball team took advantage of a three-game sweep of Howard Payne in their final American Southwest Conference series of the regular season to assure themselves the opportunity to host a first-round playoff tournament in the ASC Championship Tournament, set to begin next weekend.

The Comets, who finished the regular season 31-9, finished off the sweep with 3-1 and 11-4 wins Friday after posting a 14-4 victory Thursday. The series was moved up a day due to impending weekend weather.

UTD claimed the No. 2 seed by finishing ASC play with a 19-5 mark, pushing past East Texas Baptist (18-6), which lost 2-of-3 to first-place UT Tyler in its final weekend series. UTT will host the other four-team, double-elimination tournament Friday-Sunday, May 6-7-8. The final field for the first-round tournaments will be completed after regular season play finishes this weekend.

GAME 1: UTD 3, HPU 1

The Comets got a second starting pitcher in the record book as junior Ruben Renteria picked up his ninth win of  the season to join teammate Jamie Andriot and several former Comets atop the leaderboard. Renteria (9-1) out-dueled HPU's Jonathan George (1-5), who gave up just five hits to a Comet team that pounded out 20 hits in the series opener on Thurdsday.

UTD got the only runs it would need in the 3rd inning when three straight Comets - Rodney Corbin, Josh Covey, and Isaiah Swann - got three of those hits in back-to-back fashion to score the first run of the game. Covey then made it 2-0 on a Connor Scruggs sacrifice fly. 

A one-out double came around to score for the YellowJackets in the 5th inning to make it a one-run game, but UTD answered in the 6th inning with an insurance run when Michael Morton walked, stole second and scored on an RBI single from second baseman Jarod Beggiani, starting because of an injury.

Renteria recorded just three strikeouts in the seven-inning win, but gave up just three hits and a couple of walks. 

GAME 2: UTD 11, HPU 4

The Comets erased any doubt early in the final game of the series, jumping on starter Kyle Ramon for eight runs, five hits and six walks in the first 1.2 innings. 

Cole Hanson (5-1), meanwhile, surrendered just one earned runs in a 6.0-inning start, striking out six YellowJackets. UTD had four players with double-digit hits and three - Scruggs, Mitch Barati and Corbin - driving in two runs each.

The Comets sent 10 batters to the plate in the 1st inning, manufacturing five runs out of three hits, a hit batter and two walks. The crowning blow in the 1st inning was a two-out, 2-RBI single from Corbin. Swann led off the 2nd inning with a double, followed by two more walks before Luke Richter and Mitch Barati brought home three runs to make it 8-0. Covey scored on a fielder's choice to make it 9-0 in the 3rd.

A two-out Covey double brought home an additional run for UTD in the 4th, then Beggiani scored on a Swann sacrifice fly in the 6th for UTD's final run.

HPU picked up two runs in the 4th on back-to-back doubles and a ground out, then single runs in the 6th and 9th innings.

UTD had four players finish the game with two hits and seven different Comets drove in runs.