MARSHALL, TX (05.14.22) – The UT Dallas baseball team blasted four home runs Saturday on its way to a 12-5 win over East Texas Baptist in the third game of the ASC Championship Series, and the Comets' second consecutive league title.
 
UTD (34-14) bounced back after a 10-5 loss in the first game of the three-game Gold Series Thursday to claim an 8-6 win Friday before wrapping up the title Saturday. It is UTD's third conference baseball title and earned the Comets an opportunity to compete in the NCAA Division 3 National Championship Tournament for the fourth time in school history.

The Comets survived four different elimination games in the ASC post-season to advance to the final contest. With Sunday's victory, UTD matched the program record with 34 wins in a season.

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The Comets put on a power display at ETBU's Woods Field during the three-day series, blasting 10 total home runs over three days. Ramon Garza, who belted a pair of three-run shots in the title game Saturday, was named the tournament MVP after a 6-for-14 weekend with three home runs and eight RBI. In the three games, UTD collected 32 hits and scored 23 runs.
 
Other Comets named to the All-Tournament Team were pitchers Dylan Hugley and Joshua Wood along with third baseman Andrew Skivington and right fielder Marcos Villegas.
 
On Saturday, Skivington put the Comets out front early in the top of the 1st, driving a two-out single through the right side to score Jacob Perry and give the Comets a 1-0 lead. UTD then added three more to that total in the 3rd after A.J. Liu and Villegas walked and Hunter Cheek went deep with the first home run of the day – a three-run shot to push the lead to 4-0. Then, in the 5th, Perry led off the inning with a solo home run to extend the lead to 5-0.

Meanwhile,UTD starter Trevor McGrath was shutting down the equally as hot-hitting Tigers through the first four innings, recording six strikeouts. But ETBU (33-12) answered in the 5th, making it a one-run game with four runs on three hits and a UTD error.

The close game was short lived, though, as Garza pushed the lead back to four (8-4) immediately in the 6th with his first three-run homer of the afternoon following singles from Keagan Vance and Perry.
 
Then, in the 8th, Nick Balley singled and Vance was hit by a pitch to set the stage for Garza's second bomb, giving UTD a commanding 12-4 lead with only an inning and a half remaining. The duo of Jake Jennings and Ryan Vera were dominant in relief, allowing just three hits and a single run over the last 4.1 innings. Jennings (2-1) picked up the win for UTD.
 
The Comets got multi-hit days from Perry, Garza, Villegas, Skivington and Balley with six extra-base hits.

The field for the 2022 NCAA D-III Baseball National Championship will be announced Monday.