Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington right-hander Carlos Tavera tossed seven hitless innings and struck out 11 to lead the Mavericks to a 3-2 series-opening win over the University of South Alabama baseball team in Friday's Sun Belt Conference opener at Clay Gould Ballpark.

Tavera allowed two runs without allowing a hit, and struck out 11 while issuing four walks, but did not factor in the decision. UTA right-hander Michael Wong (1-0) tossed two scoreless relief innings, and struck out three while allowing two hits to earn the win. 

South Alabama right-hander Jeremy Lee struck out a career-high 11 batters against one walk, and allowed two runs on five hits while tying his career high in innings pitched with seven without factoring in the decision.

NEXT UP
South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it faces UT Arlington at 2 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark.

GAME FACTS
- UTA took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-out, two-run home run to right field by Dylan Paul.
- Michael Sandle drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a passed ball and moved to third with one out on a wild pitch from UTA right-hander Carlos Tavera. Ethan Wilson followed with a walk before a double steal scored Sandle and cut the UTA lead in half at 2-1.
- The Jags tied the game 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning and broke up the UTA combined no-hit bid on a one-out RBI double to right field to score Hunter Stokes, who led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Santi Montiel ahead of DeLaTorre's double.
- UTA scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a leadoff solo home run to left center field by Boone Montgomery.

NOTES
- Ethan Wilson extended his on-base streak to seven games with a one-out walk in the fourth inning, but had his hit streak snapped at six games.
- Lee's career-high 11 strikeouts were the most by a Jaguar pitcher since Drake Nightengale struck out 11 against UT-Martin on Feb. 21 last season.
- DeLaTorre finished with a double and one RBI, and Sandle added one hit, one stolen base and one run scored.
- UTA extended its win streak in the series to four games with the victory.

QUOTES    
Head Coach Mark Calvi 
- On the loss:
"We knew (Carlos) Tavera was going to throw a lot of fastballs, and we didn't do a good enough job handling him. We struck out too many times. It wasn't like he was mixing three pitches to both sides (of the plate). It was a good arm, but we've seen better and we've been better against the same kind of guy. But tonight we weren't very good offensively. We need to have better at-bats tomorrow. Their (UTA) guy was good, I thought our guy was better. We just didn't do enough offensively tonight, and that's disappointing."

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