RICHARDSON, TX (05.06.17) - An hour after experiencing the letdown of a 9-8 walkoff loss to East Texas Baptist in the winner's bracket final of the American Southwest Conference Championship tournament Saturday afternoon, the UT Dallas baseball team responded with a 4-1 win over Hardin-Simmons in a twilight elimination game to advance to a rematch with ETBU for the Red Bracket title Sunday afternoon.

The Comets (33-10) will face ETBU (29-13) at 1 pm on the UTD Baseball Field, but will need to defeat the Tigers twice to advance to the ASC Gold Bracket finals next weekend.

ETBU rallied from an 8-6 deficit in its last at-bat against the Comets, scoring three times in the bottom of the 9th to pull out the 9-8 win in the early game Saturday, their second come-from-behind walkoff win in the tournament. In the nightcap, the Comets erased a 1-0 deficit against the Cowboys with a four-run 5th inning, and rode a complete game pitching performance by junior Cole Hanson.

WINNER'S BRACKET GAME: ETBU 9, UTD 8

The Comets jumped on the third-seeded Tigers with eight runs in the first four innings, but could not push another run home, allowing ETBU to claw back with five runs in the final six frames. 

Starter Ruben Renteria struggled through seven innings, giving up five runs and 12 hits despite recording six strikeouts. He left with an 8-5 lead, but the bullpen could not hold on. ETBU plated a single run in the 8th inning, then three more in the 9th.

The Comets loaded the bases to start the 1st inning, then got its first run when Connor Scruggs was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Isaiah Swann then came home on a wild pitch. Barry Casey scored on a Luke Richter single and Scruggs made it 4-0 on an error by the ETBU right fielder.

The Comets added two more in the 2nd on a two-out RBI double from Scruggs and Richter.

After the Tigers rallied for four runs on three hits in the bottom of the 2nd to cut the lead to 6-4, UTD tacked on another pair in the top of the 3rd with a Covey RBI double, scoring Michael Morton; then a a throwing error from right field that allowed Covey to score.

The Comets pounded out 12 hits in the game, but gave up 17 to the hard-hitting Tigers. Richter was 3-for-4 with two RBI and Covey finished 3-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored.

ELIMINATION: UTD 4, HARDIN-SIMMONS 1

Just when the Comets needed it most, junior Cole Hanson threw a one-run gem in the elimination game, literally scattering nine Hardin-Simmons hits and allowing just one earned run on a Zack DeLuna home run in the top of the 3rd.  He survived one walk by striking out eight Cowboy hitters.

The DeLuna homer game HSU a 1-0 lead for the first 4.5 innings before UTD's bats came to life in the bottom of the 5th. Josh Covey started the rally with a one-out single, advancing to second when DeLuna bobbled the ball in center field. After a Swann single put runners at the corners, Barry Casey sent a shot to right field that tied the game with Covey's run. Then, with two out, Richter singled to left, scoring Swann. Mitch Barati nailed the next pitch he saw for a double to left a, scoring Casey and Richter. That was all the runs UTD would need.

Covey, Casey, Richter and Barati each had multiple hits for UTD in the nightcap.