RICHARDSON, TX (05.08.21) - With a 9-6 win over Concordia Texas in the Blue Bracket final of the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament, the UT Dallas baseball will move on to the league's Championship Series and will host East Texas Baptist for the best-of-three series starting Thursday at the UTD Baseball Field.

ASC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

Despite a season-high six errors, the top-seeded Comets (now 27-10) were able to roll off their eight consecutive victory Saturday afternoon thanks to a three-run 8th inning to pull away after the No. 4 seed Tornados had knotted the contest two frames earlier.

The Comets will be making just their second-ever appearance in the ASC Championship Series, winning the program's only league title in 2018. The ASC went to its current format in 2017.

The Tornados opened the scoring in the top of the 2nd after a lead-off double by Grayson Lee, followed the first UTD error and a sacrifice fly, to take an early 1-0 lead. The Comets responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single by Daniel Zamora, scoring Zac Vorst, and an RBI groundout by Hunter Check, plating Marcos Villegas. 

CTX then pushed across four runs on a pair of Comet errors in the top of the 3rd to regain the lead, 5-2, but UTD again responded, this time with four runs of their own in the bottom of the frame. The Comets got their first two runs in the inning on a Vorst single to left, plating Jacob Perry and Ramon Garza. Villegas then blasted his eighth home run of the spring, scoring Vorst, to give the Comets back a one-run cushion, 6-5.

After two scoreless frames, the Tornados would even the game, 6-6, in the top of the 6th on an RBI single to right by Corbin Cross, scoring E.J. Sanchez.

The Comets would then use four hits in the bottom of the 8th to blow open the game and secure their trip to the championship series. Vorst plated Perry and Garza with a bases-loaded bounding single to left to give the Comets the lead and Deylan Moreno completed the scoring with a ground ball to the left side of the CTX infield, allowing Liu to beat the throw at the plate.

Comet starter Kenny Garza did not factor into the decision despite throwing 5.2 innings and giving up just two earned runs. Garza scattered seven hits while striking out four Tornados. Grant Remy (1-0) earned the win in relief, tossing the final 3.1 scoreless innings, limiting CTX to just one hit during his stretch on the mound, and nailing down the win with a three-up, three-down 9th inning.

Vorst went 4-for-5 from the plate with four RBI and two runs scored while Garza was 3-for-5 with two runs scored.

Villegas was named the ASC Blue Bracket's Most Valuable Player, leading five Comets on the All-Tournament Team. Also honored from the UTD squad were Ramon Garza, Liu, Moreno and Perry.

No. 2-seeded ETBU (29-14) hosted the ASC's Red Bracket this weekend and won the event with three wins without a loss, including a 11-5 win over third-seeded Louisiana College Saturday in the Red Bracket final. The Comets took two-of-three games against the Tigers in the regular season (Apr. 1-2).