UT Arlington hits road to open conference season

By Sam Morton

Special to the Star-Telegram

The UT Arlington baseball team could sure use something to get itself going again, but it’ll have to do it on the road.

Having lost six of their last eight games, the Mavericks open conference play with back-to-back road weekends and a trip to Texas A&M sandwiched in between. They begin with a three-game series against UT San Antonio starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Wolff Stadium in San Antonio.

“It’s been a tough stretch for us,” coach Darin Thomas said. “We’ve been pressing a little bit and we’ve been playing good teams.”

It won’t get any easier against the hottest-hitting team in the Western Athletic Conference. The Roadrunners are an experienced team that rarely loses on its home field, having gone 11-1 so far this season at home.

UTSA is hitting .320 with 11 home runs as a team with eight starters over the .300 mark.

“Our margin for error isn’t great,” Thomas said. “It won’t be any different this weekend considering they’re just so good at home.”

The Mavericks hope their two announced starters can continue their trend of holding opposing hitters to a miniscule batting average. Brad Vachon (.154) and Chase Weaver (.143) are the two best pitchers in the WAC when it comes to keeping hitters off base.

“Weaver’s been really great for us since the Oklahoma game,” Thomas said.

Mavericks outfielder Matt Shortall is the leading hitter in the conference, but hasn’t gotten a ton of help from his teammates.

He’s hitting .403 with a pair of homers, but is only one of three Mavericks with a .400-plus on-base percentage.

But for as much as UTA has struggled over the last three weeks, Thomas doesn’t sound too concerned about where his team is headed .

“Everybody goes through stretches like this, so we’ll just keep working on it and get through it,” he said.

Missing the Rockett

Although he returned to practice this week, UT San Antonio center fielder Daniel Rockett won’t return from his three-week suspension until Tuesday as the Mavericks will avoid the best hitter in the WAC.

Rockett, who was hitting .553 with three homers in the first 12 games of the season, was arrested on March 4, accused of breaking into an apartment and punching a UTSA track member. He was charged with a second-degree felony.

Grand Prairie Mavs?

UTA has moved its April 3 game against Oklahoma Christian from Clay Gould Ballpark to Quik Trip Park in Grand Prairie, the home of the American Association’s Air Hogs.

Since officially hosting Tuesday’s game with TCU at Rangers Ballpark, this will be the second home-away-from-home game for UTA this season. Just more than 4,000 people attended that game. Quik Trip Park has a capacity of 5,500.

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