@UDallasBaseball concludes season at Southwestern; Pirates sweep Twinbill
GEORGETOWN, Texas – The University of Dallas baseball team (17-22, 7-11 SCAC) dropped two games at Southwestern University (13-26, 10-8 SCAC) on Saturday to give the Pirates a sweep over the three-game series and a 4-2 record overall in head-to-head meetings. The Crusaders dropped a seven-inning affair 11-3 in the first contest. An 8-7 extra inning loss for UD in the nightcap sent the team to its fourth straight setback. Dallas has concluded the regular season.
Game 1 Recap
Dallas staked an early advantage in the first inning with a run. Junior Trevor Keele (Edgewood, Texas) singled down the left field line to score senior Alex Thornton (Fort Worth, Texas). Thornton did score two of the team's three runs. Sophomore Tug McRoberts (Beaumont, Texas), who hit right after the center fielder, scored the team's other run.
The duo came around on back-to-back doubles by McRoberts and Keele in the fifth frame. Unfortunately, Southwestern had staked a five-run lead by that juncture thanks to a pair of three-run innings in the third and fourth. The Pirates ended up plating at least one run from the third through sixth inning.
The Crusaders were slightly outhit 10-7, but a seven tally difference in errors costed the guests in this one. Sophomore Denton Martin (Denton, Texas) took the loss with six runs (5 earned) on five hits in three innings. He walked and struck out a pair. Senior Mark Carlson (Hawthorn Woods, lll.) smacked the Crusaders third and final double in the game. The top four hitters in UD's lineup combined for all-but one of the team's base knocks.
Will Cates led the Pirates with a 3-for-4 display. He had an RBI and two runs scored. Tyler Herriage added the other multi-hit game (2-3) with two runs scored. Charlie St. Clair and Clayton Sparks etched two ribbies apiece. Jacob Kendra earned the win in four innings. He allowed a run on three hits and pitched around three walks.
Game 2 Recap
The final matchup of the series and season for the Crusaders proved to be back-and-forth all contest. The team's traded runs in each respective opening at-bat. Southwestern took an early lead with a run in the second and two in the third. UD nipped the margin in half in the fourth and took its first lead since the first with a three-spot in the fifth. Two more runs added to the edge in the seventh, but the 7-5 lead got evaporated by the Pirates. The home squad scored once in the eighth, ninth, and 10th to walk-off in the critical conference series.
Carlson and Thornton were the catalyst atop UD's lineup by matching each other with game-highs in hits with three. The top of the order tandem recorded the lone extra base hits for Dallas with both being two-baggers. Thornton drove in three runs, and the other trio were combined by junior Hunter Berry (Keller, Texas), junior Nolan Kipp (Folsom, Califl.), and freshman Alex Stack (Keller, Texas) with one apiece. Freshman Andrew Lightfoot (Katy, Texas) posted the other multiple hit game for Dallas with a 2-for-4.
Berry and Kipp got hit by pitch in consecutive plate appearances in the fifth to knot the score at the time at four even. Stack made an out on a grounder to put the Crusaders in front briefly. After Ketchum Marsh singled in the home half of the frame to tie the scoreboard; Thornton laced a double down the line in left to score Stack and Carlson.
A 7-5 edge did not hold for the guests. Ethan Luna singled in the eighth and 10th to engineer heroics for the Gold and Black. A sacrifice flyout by Will Burks kept the game alive in the ninth. Burks tripled for the team's only extra base hit and that big knock led to his other RBI that was part of a game-high of three. His three-bagger happened in the first.
Dallas outhit the Pirates 11-9, but the big story was the combined 17 walks. Crusaders' pitching surrendered nine. It was a day for both pitching staffs, as Dallas used seven and the Pirates trotted 10 to the bump. Both starters logged three frames. Sophomore Joshua Crapps (Anchorage, Alaska) got the start and allowed four runs on three hits. He walked four and struck out one. Junior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas) got saddled with the hard loss in extras. Dickson Wharton picked up the win in relief with two scoreless frames. In the fifth, a quartet of pitchers combined to get through the three outs. Two arms in the middle of that juncture failed to record an out.
Still, it was the Dallas pitching that did not have enough and came up short.