RICHARDSON, TX (03.07.20) - The UT Dallas baseball team kept its home record unblemished and polished off another three-game sweep of an American Southwest Conference opponent Saturday, toppling Howard Payne, 6-0 and 11-1.

The sweep improved the Comets' (11-4 overall) ASC record to 8-1. Howard Payne fell to 7-10, 4-5 in ASC games.

UTD got a seven-inning shutout from junior Carter Cochrane in Game 1, then rode the arm of freshman first-time starter Joshua Wood for 4.5 innings in an 11-1 "run rule" win in the series finale.

GAME 1: UTD 6, HPU 0 (7 innings)

Cochrane got all the offensive support he would need when the Comets jumped out to a 4-0 in their half of the 1st inning as the junior hurler allowed just four hits and struck out six Yellow Jackets for the complete-game win. Cochrane, who lowered his earned run average to a team-best 1.53, improved to 3-1 with the win.

The Comets took advantage of some early wildness from HPU starter Jeremy Dodson, who sandwiched two strikeouts around a couple of UTD singles to start the 1st. A Hunter Cheek walk then loaded the bases and Nick Balley then drew an RBI walk to force home the first run. A.J Liu made it 2-0, scoring on a wild pitch moments later before Isaiah Swann brought home Balley and Cheek with a 2-RBI double to left center.

That was all the support Cochrane would need as he struck out the side in the HPU 2nd, then allowed just three Yellow Jackets to make it as far as second base the rest of the way. The Comets tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the 6th on an RBI single from Austin Adams that scored Balley, and a sacrifice fly from Chandler Boyd that brought home Deylan Moreno with the final run.

For the second straight game, Liu had three hits to lead the Comets.

GAME 2: UTD 11, HPU 1 (7 innings)

Wood, a freshman from Wylie East High School, made his first collegiate start and kept the Yellow Jackets at bay while his teammates built an early 4-0 lead. HPU managed just four hits over 4.5 innings against the freshman, who struck out three before giving way to Ryan Vera, who finished off the win allowing just one unearned run after the Comets built a 10-run lead in the final game of the series.. Wood got the win while Vera picked up his first save of the season.

Connor Allred got the offense rolling in the 1st, caroming a single off HPU starter Kyle Purdes. An error and wild pitch moved Allred around the bases and he came home on a Liu ground out to give UTD a 1-0 lead.

The Comets made it 2-0 in the 3rd with a two-out double from Cheek that scored Allred. UTD upped the advantage to 4-0 with a two-run 4th. Three straight walks loaded the bases, but HPU was able to gun down two force outs at the plate before Allred and Luke Richter delivered RBI singles.

The Yellow Jackets got a single unearned run back in the 5th on a passed ball with a runner at third. But UTD answered in the 6th with a five-run outburst. A Boyd single, Allred double and Liu walk loaded up the bases for another RBI walk, this time by Richter. Two runs scored on a single to third base that was followed with an errant throw into the outfield. Kayden Ingram then capped the scoring with a 2-RBI double down the right field line and UTD was up, 9-1. 

HPU was one out away from forcing an 8th inning, but the Comets loaded the bases in the 7th and Ingram delivered a two-out single just past the third baseman that allowed the deciding two runs to score.

Allred, Richter and Cheek all finished the second game with three hits each.