KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – Sam Schott and
Michelle Arias each hit a three-run homer to help power #6 UT Tyler to a 7-1 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday afternoon.
The win solidified a key Lone Star Conference series sweep for the Patriots against a Texas A&M-Kingsville club that entered the weekend ranked within the top four of the LSC regular season standings. The two homers off the bat of Schott and Arias highlighted a 10-hit effort for the Patriots at the plate, while junior
Christin Haygood went 6.0 innings in the circle to collect the win.
Junior
JT Smith went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate and scored a run to join junior
Nicole Price with a multi-hit effort. Price finished her afternoon 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Texas A&M-Kingsville jumped ahead 1-0 after three scoreless innings to open up the ballgame with an RBI double in the bottom half of the fourth. Haygood stranded runners in scoring position in the first and second, retired the Javelinas in order in the third, and finally conceded the first run of the ball game in the fourth.
The Patriot offense managed just one hit in their first four trips to the plate before finally coming to life in the top of the fifth with leadoff base hits from
JT Smith and
Cassidi Mullen. Mullen's single came via a bunt that forced a fielding mistake by the Javelinas that allowed Smith to come around to score on an error.
Schott then gave UT Tyler a lead that they wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the game with a two-out, three-run homer a few batters later. Haygood avoided trouble in the fifth and sixth with the 4-1 advantage in-hand, before giving way to freshman
Crimson Bryant for the seventh.
UT Tyler put a pair of runners on with singles in the top of the seventh once again and then extended the lead to it's eventual 7-1 final with a three-run blast from Arias. The Patriots totaled eight of their 10 hits in the fifth and seventh innings alone.
Bryant worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh with three consecutive outs to close the books on the UT Tyler sweep.
Haygood moved to 7-0 on the year with the victory, striking out seven and conceding just a single earned run.
UT Tyler will return home to Irwin field next week for a Friday-Saturday series against St. Edward's.
