UT Arlington rallies past Arkansas St. to land in Sun Belt title game

Matt Shortall’s two-run double in the eighth inning helped the UT Arlington baseball team beat Arkansas State 8-7 in the Sun Belt semifinals Saturday at Stanky Field.

The win, the team’s 10th straight, puts the Mavericks in Sunday’schampionship game against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Trailing 7-6 in the eighth, Darien McLemore and Ryan Bottger drew two-out walks. Shortall, who was 0-4 on the day, then found a gap in right center to put UTA ahead.

The Mavericks scored five runs on five hits in the second inning and led 5-3 before running into trouble in the seventh, when Arkansas State scored four runs to take a 7-6 lead.

Brad Vachon got the start for UTA and gave up three runs on three hits in 42/3 innings.

UTA, winner of the Southland in 2012 and the WAC in 2013, is trying for its third different conference championship in the last three years. Standing in the way is top-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette (52-7), winners of nine straight.

This story was originally published May 24, 2014 at 9:17 PM with the headline "UT Arlington rallies past Arkansas St. to land in Sun Belt title game."