RICHARDSON, Texas - The UT Dallas baseball team celebrated senior day with an American Southwest Conference double-header sweep of LeTourneau at UTD Baseball Field Thursday afternoon.
The Comets (27-12, 15-8 ASC) took game one 8-4 in seven innings, then defeated the YellowJackets (16-24, 7-16 ASC) 3-2. With the win, UTD secures the second seed for next week's ASC Championship Tournament in Marshall, Texas.
After the games, 15 Comets were honored as the class of 2024 -
Brayshon Savage,
Will Dolan,
Kenny Garza,
Caleb Vuono,
Ryan Vera,
Luke Finn,
Dylan Bivins,
Brett Huff,
Trevor McGrath,
Zach Landry,
Grayson Coltharp,
Diego Longoria,
Ben Price,
Jeremy Lopes and
Dylan Hugley.
Game One
LeTourneau took advantage of errors in the first two innings to go up 2-0. Left fielder
Josh Johnson led the bottom fo the second off with a single, stole third and scored on a
Lucas Rexin double to make it 2-1.
Johnson drove in two runs with single through the left side in the third to give UTD a 3-2 lead. The YellowJackets regained a lead with two runs in the fourth, including a RBI-single from Xander Nabors.
The Comets took control of the game in the fourth with three runs on two hits, two errors, four walks and a hit batter, going up 7-4. Johnson knocked in two more runs with a base hit in the inning. In the sixth, Johnson singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a throwing error for the final 8-4 tally.
The YellowJackets outhit the Comets 12-8, but UTD led in walks drawn 7-2.
Ryan Brewer (2-4) took the loss for LETU.
Trevor McGrath (1-0) picked up the win and
Ben Price earned the save.
Game Two
Dane Jones hit his 19th home run of the season to lead off the nightcap for LeTourneau. Ethan Wood led off the fifth with a walk and scored on a Zach Zarko sacrifice fly to give the YellowJackets a 2-0 advantage.
Back-to-back sac flies from Rexin and Landry tied the contest in the sixth. In the eighth, shortstop
Efren Munoz led off with a base hit and moved to second on a wild pitch. He then stole third and scored the go-ahead run on another wild pitch.
Derek Brieden (2-0) earned the win on the mound for UTD while
Kasey Klyng picked up the save. Calvin Lopez (1-1) took the loss in relief.
UT Dallas Notes
- Johnson went 4-for-4 with four RBI, two stolen bases and two runs scored in game one.
- Rexin was 2-for-3 with two knocked in and a double in the opener.
- Starter
Dylan Collins struck out five in 3.2 innings in game one.
- McGrath fanned four over two innings, allowing two hits in two scoreless innings.
- Price earned his team-leading third save, closing out the final 1.1 innings.
- Vera started game two and tied another career school record by going seven innings. He tied Derek Dallas with 270.1 career innings thrown.
- Brieden struck out one and walked one in a scoreless eighth.
- Klyng allowed three hits but earned his first save of the year with a scoreless ninth.
- Munoz was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base in the nightcap.
LeTourneau Notes
- Wood was 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the opener.
- Jones had a double in game one and a solo homer in game two.
- First baseman Hayden Norris went 2-for-3 while Jaggar Vaughn was 2-for-4 in game two.
- Aman Patel started the second game and struck out three, allowing three hits and two runs over six innings.
Up Next
UTD and LeTourneau will wrap up the series in Longview at 2 p.m. Saturday.
