Baseball sweeps Arlington Baptist on Senior Day to Conclude the Season
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas baseball team (10-26) concluded the regular season with two victories over Arlington Baptist College (20-27).The non-conference sweep put an exclamation mark on a Senior Day, and watched Dallas end the campaign on a season-long, four-game winning streak. Both affairs were seven innings, with the Navy and White prevailing in game one 7-6, and game two 10-6.
The first contest for the Crusaders was a back-and-forth battle as Arlington Baptist took the advantage twice in the third and fourth innings. A five-run bottom half of the fourth on five-straight base knocks from UD lifted them ahead for good.
It was a nail-biter as the visitors threatened throughout the final six outs, but could only get a run in the sixth and seventh.
Senior Trevor Keele (Edgewood, Texas) slammed the door with the tying run 90 feet from home plate, inducing a ground out to third base from Kody Weil. The final out sealed the senior's fourth save of the spring, matching a season-high from 2014. Keele also set the school-record for most career saves with eight.
At the plate, the Patriots held an 11-9 hit edge, but Dallas was able to string together timely rips to post seven runs. During the winning stretch, the Navy and White have posted at least seven runs, and twice scored double-digits.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the third, sophomore Alex Stack (Keller, Texas) pulled a single through the left side to plate senior Zack Boylson (Fairview, Texas), who led the frame off with a knock through the opposite half of the diamond.
An inning later, sophomore Avery Arnold (McKinney, Texas) got the hit parade started with a single up the middle which advanced senior Jake Pierce, who reached on an error the at-bat prior. Also pounding knocks in the momentum shifting fourth were: seniors Nolan Kipp (Folsom, Calif.), Hunter Berry (Keller, Texas), and Boylson. Sophomore JP Fasone (Englewood, Colo.) completed the unit with liner to right.
Getting the win of the year and capping a career-high 13 starts was senior Martin Cronin (The Woodlands, Texas). The right-hander took the bump and logged 6.1 innings, while allowing five runs on 11 hits. He struck out two before the other classmate on the staff, Keele, secured the triumph.
UD was outhit 13-11 in the second outing, and relied again on a massive scoring inning to walk off the field with a sweep of the twinbill. The Crusaders built a 2-0 lead in the second as Berry and Boylson picked up the RBIs, and Pierce and Kipp scored on the respective sequences. Kipp moved Pierce to third on one of his two doubles to get the offense moving.
The other two-bagger for the right fielder occurred in the fourth inning, which felt a little like de ja vu. With one out, Pierce reached first and was moved into scoring position by Kipp. At the time Arlington Baptist had struck for one in the third and a trio in the fourth to lead 4-2.
Another five-hit fourth resulted in Dallas compiling a season-high six runs in an inning to lift the squad to an 8-4 margin with three to go. The 5-9 spots again provided most of the damage with all five hits and the benefit of two errors help spark the rally.
Boylson picked up his second multiple hit game on the afternoon and tied Fasone with a team-high two RBI. The centerfielder ended his final game with a double and pair of runs scored, which a quartet of UD members achieved. Nabbing the feat also included: Junior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas), Pierce, and Kipp. Villanueva also picked up a multi-hit performance.
Earning the victory on the rubber was sophomore Cole Morden (Arlington, Texas) with 3.2 innings of relief for teammate Ryan Hammonds (Cedar Hill, Texas). Morden allowed two runs, both in the seventh, on three hits.
Five players for ABC posted two hits apiece including: Josh Eatherly, Nathan Goetz, Ryan Wagley, Florentino Moreno, and Tyler Brown. The first four batters in the lineup card makeup the beginning quartet of names listed previously. Goetz and Wagley chipped in two RBI each, and Wagely and Moreno blasted homers.
Parker Kleinert got the start, going six innings and allowing 10 runs (six earned) on 11 hits with four strikeouts. On the hill in game one for the Patriots was Austin Valdez, who tossed five innings in the setback. His final stat line was seven runs (four earned), nine hits, and no walks or punch outs.
Between the contests, Dallas recognized seven players that walked on the home field a final time this spring. Among this group were: Armstrong, Kipp, Berry, Boylson, Keele, Pierce, and Cronin.
