SPOKANE, WA (05.19.18) - Senior right-hander
Cole Hanson gave the UT Dallas baseball team a third straight solid pitching performance as the Comets earned a 6-2 win over No. 15-ranked Chapman Saturday night in an elimination game in the NCAA Division III Spokane Regional, held at Avista Stadium.
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH SHANE SHEWMAKE, SENIOR COLE HANSON AND JUNIOR RYAN BURCIAGA
After falling behind early, the Comets (32-16) used a six-run 2nd inning to take control and Hanson (7-3) took care of the rest as he recorded just his second career 9.0-inning complete game. Hanson gave up one earned run on two hits in the opening frame and then limited the top-seeded Panthers to just two hits over the eight innings. He collected two strikeouts and issued just one walk. After giving up a two-out hit to Chapman in the 3rd, he would hold the Panthers hitless until two outs in the 8th frame.
Down 2-0 in the 2nd, the Comets plated all six runs in one inning, five of which came with two outs. UTD sent 10 hitters to plate in the inning, pounding out six hits, including back-to-back doubles by
Ryan Burciaga and
Barry Casey. With one out in the frame,
Luke Richter got the Comets on the board with an RBI single to center, plating
Rodney Corbin. Four batters later with the bases loaded,
Josh Covey knotted the game, 2-2, with a single up the middle, scoring Richter. Burciaga then cleared the bases with a two-bagger off the left field wall, scoring three, and then came home on a Casey double, also off the wall.
Chapman starter Joey Harmon (5-2) lasted just 1.2 innings, giving up six runs on six hits, giving way to reliever Jonathan Hernandez. Hernandez shut down the Comets for the remainder of the contest, limiting UTD to just four hits with four strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work.
The Comets will play their second consecutive elimination contest Sunday when they meet up with Willamette at 1 p.m. (Central) in a battle of the two lowest seeds in the event. With a win, UTD will then have to knock off No. 6-ranked Texas Lutheran twice to claim the program's first-ever regional title. The first such game will take place at 4:30 p.m. (Central) Sunday with the "if necessary" game slated for 1 p.m. (Central) Monday on the campus of Whitworth University.
With Saturday's win over Chapman, the Comets avenged a 9-7 loss to the Panthers in their season opener at the Cactus Classic on Feb. 9.
UTD is making it second-ever trip to the NCAA National Championship, qualifying as an at-large in 2007.
