WACO -- UT Arlington was overpowered by No. 2 seed Dallas Baptist in a 10-0 loss Friday at Baylor Ballpark to open the NCAA Waco Regional.
The loss dropped UTA to 1-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and placed the Mavericks in an elimination game against Baylor at 2 p.m. today.
Starting pitcher Lance Day avoided the 2-0 counts that he said were necessary for a victory, but the Patriots' consistent contact hitting was too much for the Mavericks to overcome. DBU had 18 hits, 16 of them singles.
UTA fell to 0-3 against DBU this season and had a seven-game winning streak snapped.
"They just had that inning, where they put the ball in play and it was in a gap," Day said, referring to the four-run third inning. "It was one of those innings where they were throwing punches, and you just have to throw back. That four spot took the life out of us."
DBU infielder Joel Hunter went 3 for 5 and led the team with five RBIs. Six of DBU's starters registered two or more hits. DBU's first extra-base hit was a sixth-inning home run by Birdville High School grad Duncan McAlpine. The other was an RBI triple by Grapevine Faith grad Landon Anderson.
The Mavericks could muster only four hits against DBU starting pitcher Taylor Massey (9-4), a Weatheford grad who had five strikeouts in his shutout.
"I'm going to give Dallas Baptist a lot of credit, in particular Taylor Massey," UTA coach Darin Thomas said. "They picked the right guy to pitch. We never really threatened, and I give him a lot of credit."
The Patriots took control of the game early with a five-hit, four-run third inning and were helped by two wild pitches that advanced runners into scoring position.
McAlpine and Jaime Garrido hit singles to put runners on first and third, and Kenny Hatcher poked a single into right field to bring McAlpine across the plate for the first run of the game.
Boomer Collins later stepped into the batter's box with runners on the corners and ripped a line drive past Day to give the Patriots a 2-0 advantage.
A wild pitch advanced runners to second and third, allowing Joel Hutter to bring them home with a single between third base and shortstop.
Day dropped to 12-4 after giving up six hits and four runs through four innings.
Adam Westbrook replaced him in the bottom of the fifth, but DBU didn't miss a beat and scored two runs on three hits.
The Patriots coasted from there. They scored four runs in the final four innings to close out the game, advancing to today's game at 7 p.m. against Oral Roberts.
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"We know UT Arlington really well," Patriots coach Dan Heefner said."We know their coaches really well. We know that they were really hot."
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