Baseball Edges Texas Lutheran to Advance in ASC Tournament
May 1, 2009

CLINTON, Miss – A three-run rally in the top of the ninth inning propelled The University of Texas at Tyler baseball team to a 7-6 win over Texas Lutheran in the opening game of the 2009 American Southwest Conference Baseball Championships at Mississippi College’s Frierson Field on Friday afternoon.

Down 4-6 going into the ninth, the Patriots (35-9) capitalized on their final at bat, starting with leadoff batter Austin Newell’s double to centerfield.  Texas Lutheran (30-13) immediately brought in reliever Tom Hembree to replace starter Brad Orosey, but Hembree hit UT Tyler’s Nathan Skeen on just his second pitch to put two Patriots on base.  A passed ball advanced both runners and Kendall Fox grounded out to second to score Newell.

Chad Daleiden lined out to short for the second out of the inning before Jeremy Harding came to the plate and doubled to center, scoring Jake Ashley who was running for Skeen to even the score at 6-6.  The next Patriots’ batter, Chris Tucker, belted the 1-2 pitch through the left side to plate Harding and put UT Tyler on top.

Texas Lutheran’s Ryan Nokelby struck out to begin the bottom of the ninth and Jeremy Macklin singled to short but was put out when Drew Farr grounded in to a double play to end the game.

Tommy Rozell got the win for UT Tyler after pitching two innings in relief of starter Bret Holland.  Holland struck out six and allowed two earned runs over his seven innings of work.

The loss belonged to TLU’s Hembree who allowed two runs in the ninth.

Paige Hodges scored the game’s first run when he homered to right field in the top of the second inning for the Patriots.  Texas Lutheran responded with one run in the bottom of the second, three more in their half of the third, and one in the fourth before UT Tyler scored again in the fifth on a Daleiden single that brought in Newell.

Brock Lemire ripped a two-run bomb over the left field wall that scored Tucker in the sixth inning to account for the Patriots’ two other runs.

UT Tyler will play the winner of UT Dallas/Mississippi College at 3:30 p.m. Saturday for a spot in Sunday’s ASC title game.

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