The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UT Arlington
No. 12 Baseball drops 7-5 decision to UT Arlington
02.21.2012 | Baseball
Feb. 21, 2012
Box Score 
AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 12 Texas Longhorns fell behind 7-3 and rallies in the eighth and ninth innings came up short in a 7-5 loss to the UT Arlington Mavericks on Tuesday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Two errors and a passed ball proved costly to the Longhorns as four of UTA's seven runs went down as unearned for the Texas' pitching staff.
In just his second start since 2010, Austin Dicharry (0-1) was saddled with the loss, yielding four runs, two earned, on four hits while striking out four over 2.1 innings.
After falling behind 7-3, the Texas bullpen held the Mavericks scoreless through the last five innings, but the Longhorns were unable to muster enough offense to erase the deficit.
In the eighth inning, Mark Payton drew a leadoff walk and scored on a one-out triple by Erich Weiss to cut the gap to 7-4, but the Horns left Weiss stranded at third to end the inning.
Texas mounted another charge in the ninth inning. Jacob Felts singled to start the inning, but was gunned down at third base on a single by Collin Shaw. Christian Summers was hit by a pitch and Tim Maitland walked to load the bases. Payton was issued a base on balls to push Shaw across, to cut the gap to 7-5, but a strikeout and groundout ended the game.
The Mavericks took a 1-0 lead in the top of the opening frame. Derek Miller hit a double and advanced to third on a passed ball. Miller came around to score on a single to shallow right field by Preston Beck for the first run of the game.
Texas responded with a run of its own in the bottom half of the frame. Mark Payton hit a triple down leftfield line and Brooks Marlow followed with a walk. Erich Weiss knocked Payton in with a fielder's choice grounder to level the score at one.
Dicharry struck out the side in order in the top of the second inning.
The Longhorns kept the momentum going with two runs in the bottom of the second. Jacob Felts got the offence started with a well-placed bunt to third for a single. Felts moved over to second with a sacrifice bunt by Jonathan Walsh. The next hitter Christian Summers tripled into the left field corner driving in Felts to give Texas a 2-1 lead. Taylor Stell plated Summers with a sacrifice fly to inflate the cushion to 3-1.
Payton paced the Longhorns at the plate, going 2-for-2 with three walks, two runs and one RBI.
Preston Beck went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. Derek Miller went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and one RBI.
Lance Day (2-0) picked up the win for the Mavericks, yielding two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out four over 5.1 innings.
Texas returns to action on Friday with a three-game set in California against the Stanford Cardinal.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Augie GarridoOn whether this was the response he was hoping for following Sunday's loss vs. Duke: No, but it is the response we got. It is something we tried to avoid. There was a lot of conversation before all this happened. Obviously it didn't stop the inability to catch the ball in the air, to play catch, to run the bases intelligently, to put the ball in play or to put runners in scoring position. Believe it or not, we really have practiced all of that. Sometimes what is missing in the game appears to be a lack of information, but in reality it is just the way we performed tonight. UT-Arlington played the better game. That is one thing I like about baseball. There are many things I don't like about baseball, but one thing I really do like about baseball is it gives everyone an opportunity. They played the game tonight better than we did and they deserved to win.
On the message after this game compared to Sunday's loss: Things were said differently, because I don't remember exactly what I said on Sunday. I think we played much poorer tonight than we did on Sunday. What is surprising to me is we spent a lot of time knowing there was a possibility of not being focused on this.
On costly errors that lead to runs: Our catch playing has not been very good. There were balls missed that could have been outs in the first inning that lead to runs and later on. It was a poor performance. There are a lot of things to pick apart and we will start to do that. We gave them a lot of extra outs within the framework of an inning. We gave them a lot of extra bases, which adds up to runs. We didn't have any time to hit it.
SENIOR RHP Austin DicharryOn his journey back: It has been a long journey back. First off, I just can't thank the Lord enough for giving me a chance to get out there and compete with the Horns again. I enjoyed my time out there today.
On what was working for him: Everything was clicking the entire time. I really didn't miss my spots much. I put the ball where they asked me to throw it. They put some quality swings on some balls. That is what the game gave me today, so I just have to take it and learn from it.
On what he has been working on the most: We have tried a number of things. I can't even tell you all of the things we tried. Out there is what we came up with and it has been working. We are going to build off of that and take it into my next start.
SOPHOMORE OF Mark PaytonOn what to say to the team about having a competitive edge: We need to figure out what works for us as a team. It's not one player, it's not two, it is nine guys out there on the field and then the other 21 on the bench. We all have to be on the same page. We are going to figure it out soon. This team has a lot of talent. We are young, but that shouldn't make a difference. We are going to figure it out. I think this team is going to stun some people.
On who on the team is the most vocal leadership wise: Me,[Sophomore C] Jacob [Felts], [Sophomore RHP] Nathan [Thornhill] and [Senior RHP] Austin [Dicharry] were named the captains. Today Jacob and me stepped up and talked a little bit. I think we need to be more vocal. I don't think a lot of people really understand what [Head] Coach [Augie] Garrido is saying yet. He will get his point across and this team will figure it out. Once we figure it out, it is going to be a fun ride.
SOPHOMORE 3B Erich WeissOn playing with a sense of urgency: That is something that every team needs to play. I think every team that gets behind like that in the last inning needs to do that. We battled back to try to win it and I think this week we need to take that and put it in every inning that we play.
On the team's focus going into their next game: It is going to be a good feeling. We need to play our game like we did the first two games this year. Hopefully, it will turn out well.
