RICHARDSON, TX (05.20.22) – The UT Dallas baseball team let its first game in the NCAA Regional Series with Trinity get away from them Friday afternoon, giving up six late runs in a 7-4 loss to the Tigers.
UTD (34-15) surrendered two-out rallies to Trinity (33-10) in both the 5
th and 6
th inning, allowing the Tigers to break open a tie ball game twice. Trinity then tacked on a clinching two-run frame in the 8
th to end the Comets' hopes of taking the first game of the best-of-five series.
UTD and Trinity meet in a doubleheader starting at 10 am Saturday. If the Comets can win one or both of those games, the two teams will wrap up the series with a 10 am (if necessary) doubleheader Sunday at the UTD Baseball Field.
UTD, playing as the visitor in the opener, jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 1
st inning when
Jacob Perry reached on a throwing error, stole second and third base, then came home when the throw to third sailed past the infield.
But fortunes changed soon after. Not only did Trinity tie the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the 2
nd, but the Comets had potential early rallies erased twice with Tiger double plays, but they lost starting pitcher
Dylan Hugley in the 3
rd when he was injured chasing an infield popup.
Hugley had been cruising through a nice start, giving up just one hit and a single run through the first 2.2 innings with a strikeout.
Trinity went up 4-1 in the 5
th, but the Comets tied up the game immediately in the 6
th.
Ramon Garza and
A.J. Liu singled to open the inning, then
Marcos Villegas delivered a triple down the right field line that scored both.
Andrew Skivington followed with a sacrifice fly that made it 4-4.
The Tigers, though, reclaimed the lead at 5-4 in their half of the 6
th with a two-out RBI double. UTD had a bit of a rally going in the top of the 8
th, but hit into their fourth double play of the game. Trinity then put together two more runs on a three-hit 8
th inning to reach the final tally.
Villegas and
Deylan Moreno were the only Comets with multiple hits.
Jake Jennings, the third of six UTD pitchers, was tagged with the loss.