AUSTIN, TX (03.12.21) - Despite a rough start to the first game of the day, the UT Dallas baseball team split a pair of games at Concordia Texas Friday evening in American Southwest Conference play.

The Comets (now 7-3, 6-2) opened the twin bill with an 8-4 loss to CTX, but responded with a 9-3 win in Friday's nightcap. The two teams will complete the three-game series with a single game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Tornado Field.

GAME 1 - CTX 8, UTD 4
Down 8-1 heading to the 7th, the Comets had the game-tying run on deck before the final out was recorded in an 8-4 loss to CTX to open Friday's doubleheader.

The Tornados belted three home runs in the bottom of the 1st to take an early 4-0 lead and would lead 8-1 after the 2nd frame. Deylan Moreno was responsible for the Comets' run in the top of the 2nd with an RBI double to left center, scoring Marcos Villegas. After four scoreless innings, the Comets would later plate three runs in the top of the 7th but left runners on second and third base when the game came to conclusion. Zac Vorst cut the CTX lead to 8-2 with a double to left center, scoring Jacob Perry. Villegas then added a bases-loaded single to right, bringing home Ramon Garza. The Comets' added a final run on a passed ball.
 
Garza and Villegas each finished the game 2-for-3. Blake Birdwell (0-1) tossed the full game, giving up four earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts.

GAME 2 - UTD 9, CTX 3
No stranger to the big inning this season, the Comets plated six runs in the top of the 7th inning en route to a 9-3 win over CTX in the second game of the night.

Villegas opened the scoring with a solo home in the top of the 5th, his first of the season, to give UTD a 1-0 advantage. However, the Tornados answered with a run in the bottom of the frame to knot the contest. The Comets then used six hits and a pair of CTX errors in the 7th to pull away for the victory. UTD picked up the first two runs of the inning on a Perry triple to left center, scoring Moreno and Nick Balley. The Comets then added an RBI single by Garza and a run-scoring double by A.J. Liu to take a 5-1 advantage. After a Tornado pitching change, the Comets tacked on an RBI double by Zac Vorst and a sacrifice fly by Villegas.

The Comets would push two more runs across in the top of the 8th thanks to a sacrifice fly by Garza followed by another Tornado error.

UTD finished the victory with 12 hits with four different Comets recording multi-hit games. Liu and Hunter Cheek were both 2-for-4 while Perry and Balley each went 2-for-5. Freshman Kenny Garza (2-0) made his first collegiate start and gave up a single earned run on four hits with six strikeouts in 6.0 innings.