Baseball Resilient on Monday in Series-Win at Austin College
SHERMAN, Texas – The University of Dallas baseball team (8-26, 4-14 SCAC) mashed a season-high 17 hits, and scored the final three runs in a 10-9 victory at Austin College (8-18, 6-9 SCAC) on Monday night. The contest was originally scheduled for Sunday, and was pushed back due to field conditions.
Dallas claimed consecutive wins for the third time this season, and won its second Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) series in the come-from-behind effort. It was the third affair this campaign the Crusaders eclipsed double figures in scoring – the first since Feb. 15 against Whitman College. The season-high in base knocks was the ninth time UD totaled double-digits this year.
Similar to Saturday's triumph, Dallas produced a sizable lead in its first trip to the plate. The Roos' had a miscue that helped lead to all five of the road squad's runs being unearned. It was the largest amount of runs UD scored in the opening frame of a contest this season.
Austin College was quick to clip the gap with a pair in the bottom half of the inning, and tacked another on in the second. The Navy and White got two in the third from a wild pitch, but AC generated a five-run inning of its own to capture its first lead since walking off in game one on Saturday.
The quintet of runs came in the bottom of the fourth, and an extra run in the next inning pushed the home team in front 9-7.
It was the largest deficit Dallas faced this series, and sophomore Avery Arnold (McKinney, Texas) sparked the offense with a single to left field. The outfielder was a sparkplug for the Crusaders tonight batting 1.000 to tie a career-high four hits and scored a game-high three runs.
Arnold also added a steal in the 7th inning. His other game to boast four hits was against the same opponent in Irving, Texas, on March 30, 2014.
Sophomore Alex Stack (Keller, Texas) was one of five players for UD to collect multiple hits and had a big rip in the same frame to knot the contest by plating senior Zack Boylson (Fairview, Texas), who walked two batters after Arnold led to two-run frame off.
Senior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas) contributed a three-for-four effort at the dish and matched two RBI with two runs scored. His second of each of those latter two stats occurred in the ninth on a 1-out solo home run to left. Villanueva's team-leading third blast proved to be the game-winner as fellow classmate Trevor Keele (Edgwood, Texas) slammed the door.
Known for his bat, Keele (1-1) toed the rubber in the sixth and held the Maroon and Gold in check the remaining four innings. The starting did not surrender a run, while scooting around four hits, three walks, and a season-high five strikeouts. The most significant punch out happened in the bottom of the ninth with the bases juiced. The senior got RJ Melton to conclude the thriller.
Also garnering excellent contests at the dish were senior Nolan Kipp (Folsom, Calif.) and Boylson with a two knocks, while senior Hunter Berry (Keller, Texas) laced a two-out double in the first to match a game-high three RBI. The second baseman's only hit of the night gave him a season-high mark, and tied the Roos' Josh Coughennower in the feat. Coughennower tied a team-high in hits for AC.
Todd Takabuki was also involved in the duo for most hits and James Arguello and Jeremy Halford rounded out multi-hit performance with two apiece. Arguello drove in two and Halford scored once.
Blaine Tew got the start for Austin College, going three innings and allowing seven runs (one earned) on nine hits while walking four. Trevor DeBord (0-1) was the losing pitcher with 0.1 of an inning. He gave up two knocks, including the Villanueva homer.
Freshman Abraham Griesbauer (Troy, Mo.) made his third start of his rookie year and tossed 1.1 innings. He allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits. Sophomore Cole Morden (Arlington, Texas) hurled 1.2 before Keele took over. Morden allowed an unearned run on one hit.
11 pitchers were used altogether in the affair, with Dallas using five and the Roos' calling six to the bump.
NEXT OPPONENT
Dallas will conclude the regular season with its final three-game series at home Apr. 24-25 versus Arlington Baptist College. Friday's game is at 3:30 and Saturday's doubleheader starts at 12 p.m. The final afternoon will feature Senior Day.