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Box Score 2 RICHARDSON, Texas—The University of Texas at Tyler Baseball (9-10) split a pair of games with the University of Texas at Dallas (8-13) on the road Saturday afternoon to seal a series victory after a win on Friday. The Patriots dropped the first game of the day, 3-0, before bouncing back for a 5-1 victory to take the series.
The seven-inning game to begin the doubleheader lasted just one hour, 33 minutes with the lineup being retired in order six combined times between both teams. The Patriots were the first to put a runner in scoring position during the top of the second inning after sophomore outfielder
Brandon Rossiter (Whitehouse, Texas) reached on a single and advance to third on a Comet error during the senior catcher
Zach Pavelock (Iola, Texas) at the plate. Both runners would end up stranded on the base paths headed into the bottom of the second inning.
Neither team put another runner on base until the top of the fourth when senior outfielder
Graham Welch (Plano, Texas) doubled to left field with two outs. He would eventually be stranded at second base while UT Dallas scored a pair of runs in the home half of the inning to take the lead. The Comets would add another in the bottom of the sixth inning to seal their 3-0 victory.
With another double in the top of the seventh, Welch recorded two of the three Patriots hits in the ball game, both on doubles. Rossiter was the other UT Tyler batter to record a hit. On the mound, junior right-hander
Keith Long (Plano, Texas) got the start and went four innings. He took the loss after allowing two runs on three hits while junior left-hander
Max Page (Montgomery, Texas) and freshman right-hander
Zachary Fernandez (Tyler, Texas) each pitched an inning in relief.
In game two, neither team was able to score in the first two innings, but the Patriots got on the scoreboard in the top of the third. Senior infielder
Blake Wilson (Midlothian, Texas) singled to right center field with one out before stealing second base. He came around to score when Welch singled to left field with the Patriots grabbing a 1-0 lead.
The Comets were retired in order in both the fourth and fifth innings of play allowing UT Tyler to add to their lead in the top of the sixth inning. Rossiter was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and was moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by freshman catcher
Ty Stayton (Grand Prairie, Texas) A single by junior outfielder
Zane Wilkinson (Keller, Texas) allowed Rossiter to come around to score while Wilkinson crossed home plate later in the inning on a fielder's choice with Wilson at the plate.
The scoring continued in the seventh with Welch hitting his third home run in two days. His third of the season went over the wall in right center field to put the Patriots ahead, 4-0. After UT Dallas scored their first run of the game on a long ball of their own in the home half if the seventh, Welch answered back with another home run int the top of the eighth inning. The home run gave Welch his second multi-home run game in as many days after coming into the season with none on the season. His two home runs and three runs-batted-in helped seal the 5-1 victory to end the series.
Getting the win on the mound in the second game was junior right-handed pitcher
Austin Schneider (Keller, Texas) who moved to 3-2 on the season. He went seven innings during the outing and allowed just three hits while striking out 10 batters. Freshman right-hander
Matthew McMillan (Pflugerville, Texas) tossed the final two innings, allowing just one baserunner and striking out three.
The Patriots will now play five games at Irwin Field in the coming week beginning with a midweek two-game series against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville set for Wednesday and Tuesday at 7 p.m. UT Tyler will also host a three-game series with Letourneau University on Friday and Saturday.
