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SAN MARCOS, Texas – No. 7 seed Texas-Arlington scored three unanswered runs over the final three innings to defeat No. 2 seed University of South Alabama baseball 4-2 Wednesday in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Bobcat Ballpark.

USA (38-19) took the game's first lead in the bottom of the first. Drew LaBounty led off the inning with a double down the left field line, and Cole Billingsley followed with a walk. Jared Barnes reached on a fielder's choice to put runners at the corners with one out. LaBounty was then put out the plate by UTA right-hander Kadon Simmons on a safety squeeze by Brendan Donovan for the second out of the frame. Danny Martinez then delivered a two-out RBI single to center field to score Barnes from second for a 1-0 Jaguar lead.

UTA (30-26) answered with its first run in the top of the fourth to tie the game. RJ Williams drew a one-out walk, and scored one batter later on an RBI double to right-center field by Quintin Rohrbaugh to knot the score at one run apiece. 

South Alabama responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth to take a one-run lead. Donovan led off the inning with a single to left field, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Martinez. Carter Perkins followed with an RBI single to center field to score Donovan for a 2-1 USA advantage.

But the Mavericks answered a half-inning later to tie the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh on a solo home run to left field by Rohrbaugh.

UTA then took a 3-2 lead on a solo home run by Cody Farrell to lead off the top of the eighth inning. The Mavericks added the game's final run on a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth by Josh Minjarez.

UTA right-hander Jacob Moreland (6-1) tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings, and allowed one hit with two strikeouts and one walk in the win. Jaguar right-hander Avery Geyer (1-2) allowed two runs on two hits with one strikeout in one relief inning in the loss. USA right-hander Hunter Soleymani allowed one run on just one hit with three strikeouts and two walks in six innings pitched, and retired the final eight batters he faced in the game, but did not factor in the decision. 

Perkins went 2-for-3 with one RBI to lead the Jaguars at the plate, and Martinez added one hit, one run and an RBI. Rohrbaugh finished 2-for-3 with a double, one home run, two RBI and two runs scored to lead the Mavericks offensively.

"It was a well-played game by both teams," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "It was well-pitched; their (UTA) starter (Kadon) Simmons was good. Our starter, Hunter Soleymani, was a little bit better; he was really good. He gave us a chance to win. The difference came down to two home runs. We left some men on base, kind of let some scoring opportunities hang out there and just didn't push across enough runs when we had opportunities. The two leadoff home runs in a low-scoring ballgame put it out of reach, and their guy (Jacob) Moreland has been really good for them this year. That was the story of the ballgame. But congratulations to UT-Arlington. They did a little bit more than they did today, and they won the ballgame.

"I am proud of the way Hunter Soleymani competed. He was at 86 pitches and he could have run back out for the seventh, and I am sure he wanted to but we were at that point in the lineup where some guys had some really good swings on him early on in the game and we had a pretty rested bullpen with some guys who have done a nice job for us in the last month or the whole season. I felt like that was the time to get a different look, and it just didn't work out our way today. I thought our guys competed, we just didn't get the job done. We have struggled offensively for the last month or so, but played very solid defense and done a nice job on the mound for the most part. We just haven't done enough in the batter's box. We have lost some close games where early in the year, or even up to a month ago, we would get a big hit. We did it for two-thirds of the season, but the last-third those clutch moments haven't quite been there.. We will need some tomorrow against a good Little Rock team."

USA will return to action Thursday when it squares off with No. 3 seed Little Rock in an elimination game at 9 a.m.

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).