ABILENE, TX (04.21.18) - The UT Dallas baseball team opened a three-game American Southwest Conference weekend series at Hardin-Simmons with a doubleheader split with the Cowboys on Saturday.

The Comets (22-14, 14-6 ASC) kicked off Saturday's twin bill with a 7-2 win on the arm of senior starter Jamie Andriot before falling to HSU in the nightcap, 7-6, in walk-off fashion. With Saturday's split, UTD grabbed sole possession of second place in the ASC with four games left to play.

The two teams will wrap the set Sunday with a 1 p.m. single game.

GAME 1 - UTD 7, HSU 2
Andriot improved to 8-2 on the season as he struck out eight Cowboys in a complete-game performance in the Comets' 7-2 victory over HSU to open the three-game series.

The Comets used a four-run 6th inning to open up a tie game as Andriot scattered six hits with two walks.

UTD got on the board in the 4th with a two-out RBI single by Peyton Becker, scoring Rodney Corbin, and doubled its lead to 2-0 in the 5th with a Connor Scruggs RBI single up the middle, scoring Josh Covey.

After the Cowboys plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the 5th to knot the game, 2-2, UTD tallied four runs on just three hits in the next frame. Matt Mikusek gave the Comets back the lead with a single to right, scoring Thomas Craig, and later scored on a single up the middle by Ryan Burciaga. The Comets then added two more runs on a Scruggs single, scoring Covey and Burciaga. UTD tacked on a final run in the top of the 7th on a Cowboy error.

Scruggs finished 2-for-4 with three RBI while Covey was also 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Burciaga was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.

GAME 2 - HSU 7, UTD 6
The Comets gave up a pair of late leads as they dropped a 7-6 decision to host HSU in the Saturday's night cap.

Up 4-3 in the 8th, UTD gave up the lead in bottom of the inning on a  two-out, two-run homer by Garrett Buckner.  The Comets answered in the top of the 9th on back-to-back RBI hits by Barry Casey and Scruggs to regain the lead, 6-5, but the Cowboys again answered the bottom of the 9th.

HSU loaded the bases with back-to-back singles by Cade Johnson and Taylor Cooling, followed by a walk drawn by Danny-David Linahan. Cody Berryman then ended the game with a single to left on a 1-2 count from Comet closer Garrett Hale.

The Comets fell behind HSU, 3-0, early but answered with a four-run 5th inning, taking advantage of two Cowboy errors, to grab the lead. After a one-out double by Mikusek, giving UTD runners on second and third, the Comets got on the board with a sacrifice fly by Burciaga, scoring Mathew Deacon. Mikusek would come home on an HSU error before Scruggs evened the game, 3-3, with a two-out single to center, scoring Covey. Luke Richter then gave the Comets a lead with a single to center, scoring Casey.

Scruggs ws 3-for-5 with two runs scored while Covey was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Richter finished 2-for-5 with an RBI as the only other Comet with multi-hit performance. Hale (0-3) suffered the loss, giving up two runs on three hits with one strikeout. Starter Ruben Renteria tossed 7.0 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts.