ODESSA, TEXAS – Senior Caitlyn Wells notched the highest individual RBI total in a Division II game in program history and the top of the UT Tyler lineup went a combined 10-for-12 at the plate to lead the Patriots to an 11-3 win over UT Permian Basin.
 
The 11-3 run-rule win on Tuesday afternoon completes three consecutive wins via run-rule in the three-game series for UT Tyler against the Falcons. Wells went 3-for-3 with a pair of homers and seven RBI, an individual total that stands as the highest in the Division II era and matches the second-highest individual game total in program history.  
 
The top four batters in the UT Tyler lineup recorded 10 of the 11 UT Tyler hits in the game, and scored all 11 runs in what is the third straight outing for the team with 10 or more runs. Sophomore JT Smith went 2-for-2 at the plate with the third homer of the game for the Patriots and four runs scored, while sophomore Cassidi Mullen and junior Audrey Escamilla both notched multi-hit efforts in the leadoff and three-hole spot of the lineup.
 
Junior Tatum Goff moved to 14-0 on the year with 4.0 innings of work before giving way to Kaylee Davis and Caitlin Wells for what would be the fifth and final inning of the ballgame. The pitching staff combined to allow just three Falcon hits on the afternoon, and struckout eight along the way.
 
The top of the Patriot lineup got started early on Tuesday afternoon as Escamilla drove in Mullen on an RBI walk, and then came around to score on the first Wells homer of the day in the first. That three-run blast made it 4-0, a score that would hold through the bottom of the inning before two additional runs for the Patriots in the top of the second made it 6-0.
 
Mullen scored her second run of the day after a leadoff walk to start off that frame on a fielding error by UT Permian Basin. Wells notched her fourth RBI of the ballgame in the next at-bat on a sac fly to leftfield that scored Smith.
 
Goff retired the first six batters she faced in order before conceding her lone run of the game in the bottom of the third. An single for the fifth RBI of the day for Wells and a sac fly from junior Courtney Plocheck quickly answered that run for UT Tyler Permian Basin with a pair of runs in the fourth.
 
Smith and Wells capped off the ballgame in the fifth with a pair of homers, a solo shot from Smith and a two-run homer from Wells, which solidified the record day for the senior with her sixth and seventh RBI. Wells added an exclamation point to her performance in the bottom of the fifth in the circle, putting an end to a Falcon two-run rally with the third and final out of the day on one pitch to close the door on a third run-rule in the series.
 
The three victories over the Falcons will send the Patriots out to Florida for a pair of non-conference doubleheaders over the weekend on the heels of an eight-game winning streak.
 
UT Tyler will visit Nova Southeastern on Friday for the first of those two doubleheaders in Fort Lauderdale Fla. at 4 p.m.