TYLER, TEXAS - #6 UT Tyler used complete games from Payton Foster and Erin Hill to extend their winning streak to 12 straight in Sunday's doubleheader sweep of Midwestern State.
 
Foster and Hill didn't allow a single earned run between the two games in 4-1 and 8-0 wins for the Patriots on Sunday afternoon, totaling 17 strikeouts between the pair of wins. Foster notched the second-most individual strikeouts in program history and the most in a single game in the Division II era with 11 in the game one victory.
 
Sunday's efforts in the circle allowed Foster and Hill to combine for 26.0 innings without allowing an earned run for the weekend after both Patriots also tossed complete games in Friday afternoon's wins against Texas Woman's.
 
The Patriot offense remained efficient on Sunday afternoon in support of the starting duo for UT Tyler, plating 12 runs for the afternoon on just 10 hits. Bayli Simon had her best afternoon of the season between the two games, going 3-for-4 with a double and a triple while notching four of the 11 RBI on the day for UT Tyler.
 
Simon put the first two runs on the board in game one's 4-1 win for UT Tyler, scoring Grace Davis in the bottom of the second with an RBI single up the middle and tripling to right center in the fourth to score Mak Dominguez. Those two RBI hits for Simon gave the Patriots a 2-1 advantage at the conclusion of the fourth inning before Amanda Marek's ninth homer of the season in the fifth brought the score to it's eventual 4-1 final tally.
 
Midwestern State scored the lone run of the day for the Mustangs in the top of the second inning in game number one to open up the lead after a leadoff fielding error by the Patriots put the first runner on the base paths. That runner would eventually score on a fly out in foul territory that was caught by the Patriots, allowing the Mustangs to open the game up with a 1-0 lead.
 
Simon's RBI single in the bottom half of that second inning put an end to the first and only Midwestern State lead of the day. Foster generated three straight outs in the top of the third after a leadoff double and single put runners on first and second with no outs for the Mustangs.
 
Those three outs for Foster proved to be the turning point for the Lufkin, Texas native in the game as she allowed just three baserunners to advance on in her final four innings of work. She struck out at least one Mustang batter in all but one inning, and had four innings in which she induced two strike outs.
 
The win moved Foster's overall record for the year to 8-3 and brought her season ERA down to just 0.91 through 69.0 innings of work.
 
Hill allowed just three base runners to advance on with two hits and a walk in her 5.0 innings of work in the game two 8-0 run rule after five innings of play. She fanned six batters of her own and moved her record to 10-1 on the year.
 
Simon was credited with the first RBI of the game in game number two as well, drawing a walk with the bases loaded to score Michelle Arias and start the game off with a 1-0 Patriot lead in the first. Courtney Plocheck drove in the second run of that opening frame with a single to first base that scored Ashley Perez from third.
 
Plocheck extended that 2-0 Patriot advantage with the first of two runs in the third for UT Tyler with a sacrifice fly to right center that scored Grace Davis. Dominguez joined in on the two-out rally for the Patriots in that frame with a double through the left side that scored Simon and doubled the lead to 4-0.
 
UT Tyler continued that quality offensive work into the fourth, plating the four runs needed to enact the run rule heading into the top of the fifth. The Patriots batted through the lineup in that frame, and drew three walks and a pair of hit by pitches in the inning to keep the runners advancing in the process.
 
Hill struck out the final batter of the day for Midwestern State to end it in the fifth to keep UT Tyler tied with Texas A&M-Commerce atop of the Lone Star Conference standings with a record of 12-0 in league play. Both clubs have tallied overall records of 18-4 as we move into the second half of the 2021 season.
 
The Patriots will stay at home next weekend with doubleheaders against #24 Angelo State on Friday and Lubbock Christian on Sunday.