RICHARDSON, TX (04.28.18) - The UT Dallas baseball team closed out a three-game sweep of East Texas Baptist Saturday afternoon with a pair of home wins to wrap up an American Southwest Conference series with the visiting Tigers.

The Comets finished the regular season with a 25-15 overall record, hitting the 25-win mark for the fourth time in five seasons, and can finish no worse than tied for second in the ASC standings at 17-7.  UTD has qualified for the ASC Tournament for the 15th in the 17-year history of the program and will serve as the No. 3 seed in next week's event, playing the opening round on the campus of Sul Ross State in Alpine.

GAME 1 - UTD 2, ETBU 1
Senior starter Ruben Renteria scattered five hits with seven strikeouts without a walk as he pitched the Comets to a 2-1 victory over ETBU to open Saturday's twin bill.

Renteria retired 11 straight Tigers at one point as he offense picked up solo home runs from Barry Casey in the 3rd and Rodney Corbin in the 4th to erase an early 1-0 deficit. ETBU used a pair of hits and two sacrifices in the 1st to record the only blemish on Renteria. 

The Comets collected just five hits of their own off of ETBU starter Derrick Findley, as he also went the distance, giving up two earned runs with two strikeouts. Corbin was 2-for-2 while Casey was 2-for-3 as the duo accounted for four of the five UTD hits off Findley.

GAME 2 - UTD 7, ETBU 5
The Comets had to hold of a late rally to complete the sweep, earning a hard-fought 7-5 win over ETBU in the series finale.

Leading 7-2 heading to the final frame, the Comets gave up two runs in the top of the 9th to ETBU and let the Tigers bring the go-ahead run to the plate before Tristin DerMargosian locked down his first save of the season with a strike out of Drew Large.

UTD struck first with two runs in the bottom of the 1st thanks to an RBI double by Casey followed by a run-scoring single by Luke Richter to take an early 2-0 lead. However, the Tigers rallied with two runs in the top of the 2nd to knot the game. The Comets plated two runs in the bottom of the 2nd to take the lead for good, getting a two-run single from Casey as the ASC RBI leader picked up his third and fourth RBI of the doubleheader.

The Tigers drew within a run in the top of the 5th with a Casey Combs double to left, but UTD got the run back in the bottom of the frame with a solo homer by Connor Scruggs, his team-leading sixth of the season. The Comets then plated two insurance runs in the 6th on a single by Scruggs.

Cole Hanson (5-3) earned the win after going 7.1 innings with seven strikeouts and just one walk. He gave up one earned run on 10 scattered hits. Scruggs was 4-for-5 for the game with three RBI while Richter went 2-for-3. Josh Covey added a 2-for-4 performance with three runs scored from the lead-off spot while Casey was 2-for-5 with three RBI.