UT Arlington will see similar baseball style in series at Texas Tech

By Sam Morton

Special to the Star-Telegram

For the first time all season, the UT Arlington baseball team won’t spend the weekend at home when it travels to Lubbock for a three-game series with Texas Tech starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Rip Griffin Park.

The Mavericks have taken advantage of being at home all season except for one midweek game by going 8-3, including a confidence-building 6-1 victory over No. 10 Oklahoma on Tuesday.

“We don’t necessarily talk about winning because winning takes care of itself. We just want to play good baseball,” coach Darin Thomas said. “We play good enough teams and even win a few, so our guys should have confidence against anyone.”

Thomas has to be pleased with the way UTA has been hitting this season, even if there isn’t much power. The Mavericks are bating .305, with only 19 of their 118 hits have gone for extra bases. They’re drawing walks, moving runners around and getting timely hitting.

“They’re plugging away. We’re putting the ball in play, not striking out a lot and swinging it pretty good,” Thomas said.

The Red Raiders sport a similar lineup, one in which players get on base without a feared hitter in the middle of the order. They’ve drawn 70 walks in 14 games and scored 84 runs despite a .346 team slugging percentage.

Texas Tech is coming off a two-game split with defending national champion Arizona this week, winning the second game 5-2.

This weekend begins a long road stretch that will see UTA play 12 of its next 15 games on the road.

Matt’s bat

After a sluggish opening weekend, Matt Shortall has come on strong as UTA’s big bat in the heart of the order. While he only has one homer this season — the only Mavericks player to do so — he’s belted six of UTA’s 19 extra-base hits.

With runners on the corners and the Mavericks ahead of Oklahoma 3-0, Shortall roped an outside fastball to the right-center field gap, giving UTA a 5-0 lead that carried it the rest of the way in the upset.

“Our goal isn’t just to beat all the Big 12 teams. Our goal is to win every game,” Shortall said.

The catcher/designated hitter is hitting .395 with three doubles and two triples in the first 10 games this season.

Facing Masek

Texas Tech pitcher Trey Masek will be the best pitcher the Mavericks have faced this season. The junior hasn’t allowed a run in 24 innings. He’s struck out 27 batters, while only letting 19 hitters get on base.

Masek is projected to go in the early rounds of the 2013 MLB Draft, so UTA will likely get a true test of where its lineup stands.

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