MARSHALL, TX (05.12.22) - Host East Texas Baptist plated six runs in the bottom of the 8th to rally from behind and deal the UT Dallas baseball team a 10-5 loss in the opening game of the ASC Championship Series Thursday night, played at Woods Field.

A.J. Liu blasted a pair of two-run home runs for the Comets (32-14) in a game that showcased six total long balls. Andrew Skivington added a solo shot later in the contest to push the UTD lead to 5-3 in the top of the 7th before the top-seeded Tigers scored the final seven runs of the contest to complete the come-from-behind victory.
 

Liu opened the scoring with one out in the top of 1st with his first homer of the night, also bringing home Ramon Garza to give UTD an early 2-0 advantage. But the Tigers (33-11) countered with single runs in the 2nd and 4th frames to tie the ballgame. Liu's second long ball of the night, and fifth of the spring, gave the Comets back a two-run cushion in the top of the 5th.

ETBU cut the lead down to 4-3 with a pair of hits in the 6th, but Skivington's solo shot pushed the lead back to 5-3 heading into the late innings. The Comets still held a 5-4 in the 8th and seemed poised to add to the cushion after loading the bases. But a scorching line drive by Skivington that would have brought home at least two more runs nailed Marcos Villegas on the base paths for the third out of the inning and the Comets were clinging to the one-run advantage.

The Tigers, who also staged a big rally in the final game of last weekend's Blue Bracket Tournament to reach the championship series, put a couple of runners on to start the 8th with a single and an error, then garnered their first lead of the night (6-5) with back-to-back RBI singles. Before they were done, ETBU had loaded the bases for pinch hitter Ben Lea, who sent the sixth home run of the night over the leftfield wall to put the game out of reach.

Game two of the best-of-three series is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday. UTD would have to win that game to force a third and deciding game at 1 pm Saturday.

Skivington led all Comet hitters with a 3-for-4 night while Liu and Deylan Moreno picked up two apiece. Dylan Hugley went 6.0 innings in the start for the Comets, allowing three runs on seven hits.