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MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama baseball team used a six-run first inning and quality start from Austin Bembnowski to secure a three-game Sun Belt Conference series sweep of Texas-Arlington Sunday at Stanky Field.

Bembnowski (2-0) allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and a pair of walks to earn his second win of the season. UTA left-hander Adam Meyer (1-1) allowed six runs on five hits with one walk in one-third of an inning in the loss. Jaguar southpaw Shane McKinley tossed 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings to earn his fourth save of the year.

USA (15-5, 6-0 SBC) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Travis Swaggerty led off the inning with a walk, and moved to third on a single to right field by Cole Billingsley. A double steal advanced Billingsley to second and scored Swaggerty with the game's first run. Drew LaBounty followed with a single to put runners at the corners with no outs. Jared Barnes then delivered a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Billingsley and double the Jaguar lead. Danny Martinez, Matt Bolger and Ryan Raspino each delivered RBI singles later in the inning, and a wild pitch by UTA left-hander Brad Vassar allowed Raspino to score the sixth run of the frame.

"We had some windows of opportunity in the first (inning), and we took advantage of them," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "We had some good at-bats; we took some walks, stole some bases to get into scoring position and the guys did a nice job of fighting their way on base and capitalizing on some of their (UT-Arlington) pitching mistakes early on in the game."

The Mavericks answered with a run in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Brady Cox to cut the Jaguar lead to 6-1. UTA (10-11, 2-4 SBC) added its second run of the game in the top of the seventh on a leadoff solo home run by Noah Vaughan, and scored the game's final two runs in the top of the eighth on an RBI double down the left field line by Quintin Rohrbaugh and an RBI groundout by Vaughan.

Bolger went 2-for-4 with one RBI to lead South Alabama at the plate. LaBounty added two hits and one run scored, and Martinez, Raspino and Billingsley recorded one hit and one RBI apiece. R.J. Williams finished 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored to lead UTA offensively.

"They (UT-Arlington) are a very good team," Calvi said. "I'm obviously pleased with the weekend. Winning baseball starts on the mound and with good defense, and Austin Bembnowski gave us a good performance today. His fastball is hard to square up, and on a day where the wind is really blowing in you need some free passes to score some runs. It was a tough day to hit, but Austin did a really nice job and (Shane) McKinley was good for us at the end."

South Alabama will return to action Tue., March 22, when it travels to New Orleans for a 6:30 p.m. contest with New Orleans.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).