RICHARDSON, Texas - The UT Dallas baseball team wrapped up its four-game series with Howard Payne at UTD Baseball Field Saturday with a double-header split. The Comets (19-2) won the opener 6-1, with the Yellow Jackets (7-13) holding off the home team 11-7 in the finale.
Game 1
UTD outhit HPU 11-7 in the first game. Senior
Trevor McGrath (5-1) earned the win on the mound, allowing just five hits, one run and a walk with four strikeouts over 5.2 innings.
Kasey Klyng faced four batters without allowing a baserunner and
Jake Jennings picked up his second save of the series with two more scoreless innings.
Second baseman
Albert Garza led off the bottom of the first with a walk and
Lucas Rexin followed with a home run to left field to give the Comets an early 2-0 advantage.
Shortstop Grant Pfaff opened the sixth inning with a triple and scored on a Seth Bowman ground ball to make the game 2-1. UTD answered in the bottom of the frame when
Efren Munoz drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a Garza base knock to right field.
With the bases loaded in the eighth, catcher
Nico Fernandez singled down the third base line, plating two runs. Munoz followed with an RBI-single for the game's final 6-1 tally.
Yellow Jacket starter Daylan Bower (1-2) went 5.1 innings and gave up five hits, three runs, five walks and four Ks.
Game 2
HPU jumped out to an 11-1 lead after the first four innings. UTD first baseman
Jayden Chatman kept the game going with a grand slam to left field in the bottom of the seventh to make it 11-5.
The Comets brought the tying run up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs,
Diego Martinez and
Pedro Martinez recorded pinch-hit singles, and
Zach Rennard followed with another pinch base hit that plated the former. Freshman third baseman
Jackson Montee was hit by a pitch to load the bases, bringing up
Adrian Guerrero Jr., who drew a walk and scored
Pedro Martinez to make the game 11-7. Yellow Jacket closer Brendan Read ended the game with a flyout to earn the save.
Howard Payne outhit UT Dallas 14-11. Canon De Serf (2-2) started and earned the victory. He allowed five hits, one run, three walks and struck out four in five innings.
Anthony France (3-1) was tagged with the loss for the Comets.
UT Dallas Notes
- Jennings struck out two batters in two innings for his second save this season. He has yet to allow a run in 12 frames in 2025. Jennings also moved into a tie for ninth place on UTD's career save list with five.
- Garza was 2-for-3 with two runs, a RBI, a walk and a stolen base in game one.
- Rexin blasted his third home run of the season and was 3-for-5 with two runs, two RBI and a steal in the opener.
- Fernandez was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI in game one.
-
Diego Martinez and Rennard recorded their first hits as Comets in game two.
-
Rey Rivera Jr. made his UTD debut on the mound, throwing a scoreless seventh inning.Â
-
Jake Nicholson threw 2.2 innings with two strikeouts without giving up a run.
-
Ethan Vandament also had a scoreless frame in game two.
- Chatman's grand slam was the 41st in UTD history.
- UTD won three of the four games from HPU and improved to 45-7 in the all-time series.
Howard Payne Notes
- Read picked up the save in game two and threw 1.1 scoreless innings in the opener.Â
- Center fielder William Burford was 2-for-4 in game one.
- Bowman went 4-for-6 with two RBI and a double in game two.
- Braden Franks was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and a walk in the nightcap.
- Hunter Rasnick-Pope came up with three hits in the finale.
- Pfaff drove in three runs with two walks and two runs scored in game two.
- Catcher Devin Smith walked three times and scored twice in the finale.
Up Next
UTD will host #18/25 Concordia Texas on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
