ARLINGTON, Texas. (3/12/16) – The Arkansas State baseball team opened Sun Belt Conference play Saturday at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington, Texas against UT Arlington, but A-State dropped both games to the Mavericks by scores of 11-8 and 2-0 after Friday's scheduled opener was moved to today due to heavy rain during the week.

The Red Wolves (7-7, 0-2 SBC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game one by virtue of three unearned runs in the fourth inning and a single unearned run in the fifth inning. Frankie Alvarez plated the first run on a sacrifice fly before RBI singles Jeremy Brown and Ty White scored two more runs. Tanner Ring plated the fourth run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly to right field in foul territory.

The Mavericks (10-6, 2-0 SBC) only mustered three hits against Tyler Zuber through the game's first four innings, but exploded for six runs (all earned) on four hits with the A-State starter only collecting one out. The big blow came when Jerame Littell hit the first pitch he saw in his at-bat over the left-field fence for a grand slam that gave UTA the lead 6-4. Peyton Culbertson relieved Zuber and allowed two more runs on a RBI triple that put UT Arlington in front 8-4 after five innings.

A-State had a chance to cut into the lead in the sixth inning when Matt Burgess hit a hard ground ball that UT Arlington's second baseman Darien McLemore snagged with a diving stop with the bases loaded to keep the game 8-4. Brown drove home two runs with a RBI single in the top of the seventh to make the score 8-6. The Red Wolves loaded the bases with two outs once again, but Garrett Rucker grounded out to second to end the threat.

The Mavericks tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the seventh for an 11-6 advantage with three run-scoring hits. A-State plated runs in the top of the ninth on a Joe Schrimpf sacrifice fly and Rucker RBI single to make the score 11-8, but Burgess grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

Joel Kuhnel improved to 3-1 on the year for UTA after giving up four unearned runs on nine hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Adam Meyer earned the save for UTA with 2.1 innings out of the bullpen. Zuber fell to 1-1 on the year for A-State with Tanner Kirby and Bo Ritter also seeing action out of the bullpen.

White led the team with four hits in the game, while Rucker, Ring, and Brown each had three hits as those four players combined for all 13 of A-State's hits. Brown led the team with three RBIs. Noah Vaughan led UT Arlington with three hits and drove in three runs.

Game two was quite the opposite of game one with both teams combing for just five hits. A-State starter Adam Grantham carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but allowed a two-out triple to Matt McLean that scored Vaughan, who had walked earlier in the inning, to give the Mavericks a 1-0 edge. UT Arlington added a second run in the sixth inning after a walk, sacrifice bunt, and single scored a run to lead off the inning.

Ring doubled twice in the game and advanced to third once on a balk in the fifth inning, but Alvarez lined a shot right to UTA's third baseman for the final out of the inning to end A-State's best scoring threat. Schrimpf and Rucker both squared up pitches in the sixth inning with a runner on, but McLean ran both balls down that could have changed the outcome of the contest as A-State lost 2-0.

Kadon Simmons threw eight innings of scoreless baseball for UT Arlington and allowed four hits with no walks and three strikeouts to improve to 4-1 on the year. Daniel James pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season. Grantham was solid and tied his career high with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings, but also walked five as the Kennett, Mo., native gave up two runs on two hits. Cody Jackson tossed 2.2 shutout innings out of the bullpen for the Red Wolves with a pair of strikeouts.

The Red Wolves and Mavericks conclude the three-game league set Sunday at 1 p.m. A-State will start Bryan Ayers, while UT Arlington counters with Austin Gardner.

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