Crusaders end regular season with loss to Arlington Baptist on Wednesday
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas baseball team dropped a non-conference game to Arlington Baptist College on Wednesday to conclude the regular season. This game had been added on Monday, since the Crusaders had an extra slot available to schedule a game after having a cancelled contest at LeTourneau University on April 2. The Crusaders gained a 1-0 advantage in the first inning, but Arlington Baptist notched six unanswered runs with all of them coming over a five-inning span. The home team battled back with three in the seventh, but the rally fell short.
GAME INFORMATION
Team Scores: Arlington Baptist College (6), University of Dallas (4)
Team Records: Arlington Baptist (N/A), Dallas (14-26)
Pitcher Records: W) Valdez (1-0) L) A. Griesbauer (3-3) S) Darden (1)
NOTABLE STATISTICS
- Jordan Stickler (Grand Rapids, Mich.) singled in his second at bat to stretch his on-base streak to 31 games. The outfielder also walked and scored a run.
- Mark Peterson (Cincinnati, Ohio) knocked the team's lone extra base hit for a double. That was his fifth two-bagger on the year. He also had an RBI on a sacrifice bunt.
- Jake Schwartz (Geneva, Ill.) smacked his first collegiate base hit and also had his first career ribbies with two overall.
- Zach San Roman (Miami, Fla.), Zachary Taylor (Humble, Texas), and Enrique Vigil (San Antonio, Texas) rounded out the six hits for the Crusaders. Vigil ended the regular season with base knocks in eight of the last 10 games. This includes a four-game hitting streak.
- Conrad Voss (Corona, Calif.) tossed the most innings out of four arms UD sent on the mound for the game. Voss entered in the fifth and threw 3.2 innings while tying a career-high eight strikeouts. He did not walk anyone while yielding two runs on three hits.
- Arlington Baptist posted 10 hits altogether. Half of them were for extra bases as James Duvall, Lorenzo Lynch, and Justan Bailey tallied doubles. Tyler Brown and Lorenzo Lynch tripled and homered, respectively.
- Lynch put together a 2-for-3 with two RBI, two walks, and a run scored. Brown and Bailey added two-hit performances with Brown crossing home twice.
- The top five hitters in the Patriots' lineup tallied eight hits combined.
- Austin Valdez was awarded the win going 6.2 innings in the start. All four runs were unearned and he scattered four hits. Valdez struck out five. Josh Darden got the save in 1.1 innings while striking out three.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Ryan Hammonds (Cedar Hill, Texas) started for the Crusaders and had a quiet first inning. The team's top starter followed a two-out walk to Lynch by immediately picking him off at first to end the frame.
In the bottom of the inning, Stickler reached on an error by the short stop. He swiped second on his team-leading 24th stolen base and advanced to third on a groundout by San Roman. Seth Hanson (Apache Junction, Ariz.) walked to put runners on the corners and Peterson bunted down the first base line to successfully sacrifice himself and score a speedy Stickler.
That was as large as the lead would get for Dallas. In the third inning, the Patriots started a two-out rally off Hammonds with Brown launching a deep fly at the center field wall to earn a triple. Lynch doubled to right center to knot the game.
Arlington Baptist swung the momentum with a two-spot put up in the fourth. Jared McKinney and Ivan Rios picked up a RBI on back-to-back at bats that propelled the guests in front for the remainder of the game. After leading 3-1 after four, the Patriots scored once in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to complete their results in the runs column. An error helped score the first run. Duvall doubled in the sixth with two outs and then Lynch started the seventh with a deep home run to left center that expanded the difference to five runs (6-1).
The Crusaders battled back in their half of the seventh with a three-spot. After being held to a pair of hits at that juncture with none since the third inning, Vigil sparked some life into the home dugout with a sharp single through the left side. After two outs, Nicolas Hovde (Waco, Texas) reached on an errant throw from ABC's third baseman that sailed out of player along the first base foul line. Schwartz, who was making his second plate appearance of the season, took advantage with a clutch two-RBI single to left field.
That ended the day for Valdez and brought Noah Vaughn in. He walked Stickler and then San Roman singled to left center to drive in Schwartz and cut the deficit to 6-4.
In the eighth, Peterson doubled on a ball that skipped just fair over the top of the third base bag. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, he would be stranded there. Dallas was unable to complete the comeback as it fell to 11-13 in non-conference games this spring.