Box Score

For the Dallas Baptist Patriots (28-29), a chance to redeem a rocky season got off to an inauspicious start on Wednesday night against UT-Arlington (31-25) as DBU was shut out by the Mavericks, 2-0, at QuickTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Texas. The Patriots mustered only thee hits in the contest and only one after the third inning. Brad Vichon (7-4) went 7.2 innings for UTA to pick up the win while Cy Sneed (4-4) gave DBU 5.2 quality innings in the loss. The Patriot offense struck out 14 times and left eight men on base.

DBU had Vichon on the ropes early, loading the bases with one out in the second inning. With the Maverick bullpen up in full force, Vichon pitched out of the jam, however, by inducing a double play ground ball off the bat of KJ Alexander and DBU never really threatened again. UTA then went on to score one run in the bottom of the inning on two hits and then scored their insurance run in the seventh off reliever Joseph Shaw. The run was unearned, but Shaw was his own undoing as he had trouble with a sacrifice bunt and was unable to record an out on the play. Michael Smith threw the final two innings of the game for DBU and did not allow a run of his own on one hit while striking out three.

DBU is now in dire straights for the rest of the tournament. For DBU to have a chance at the championship game on Sunday, they must win both their remaining games and UTA must lose both theirs. If DBU and UTA both end the tournament 2-1, UTA will advance based on the tiebreaking system. Dallas Baptist will play Texas State on Friday at 11:00 am and New Mexico State on Saturday at 3:00 pm. Both games will take place at QuickTrip Park and will be broadcast on the Patriot Broadcasting Network.