On Campus: Hot Texas-Arlington Takes On Defending Champs

Texas-Arlington has been one of the hottest teams in the country since the end of March and has ridden a 17-4 streak to first place in the Sun Belt Conference. UTA (29-18) will look to continue that streak this weekend as it welcomes Coastal Carolina, the defending national champion, to Clay Gould Ballpark.

Coach Darin Thomas said the Mavericks’ success this season begins on the mound.

“Our weekend starters are good, the best we’ve had since I’ve been here,” he said. “We’ve got a backend guy in Daniel James that can close things out. Anytime you’re winning a lot it has to do with pitching.”

Coming into the season, Coastal and Louisiana-Lafayette, which had won the conference two of the last three seasons, were tabbed as conference favorites. But with two weekends left in the regular season, UTA stands at 19-5 in the conference and leads Louisiana by 4.5 games in the West Division and South Alabama, the East Division leader, by two games. Coastal is a half-game behind South Alabama.

UTA is trying to win its first conference title since joining the Sun Belt in for the 2014 season. Its last regular-season championship came in 2013, when it was member of the Western Athletic Conference. Thomas knows it won’t be easy for the Mavericks, who finish the season next weekend with a series at Texas State.

“There’s a little bit of parity in the top part of (the conference),” he said. “We’ve still got six really tough ones left.”

UTA ranks second in the league in ERA with a 3.78 mark. Starters Jakob Hernandez (6-0, 3.05), Trae Patterson (6-3, 2.63) and Kaden Simmons (7-2, 3.82) have been solid all season. The Mavericks also have a strong bullpen, anchored by James (0-1, 2.22). The righthander ranks ninth in the country with 13 saves despite missing the first month of the season as he recovered from December hip surgery.

First baseman Omar Salinas (.321/.438/.537, 8 HR) and catcher Will Olson (.327/.435/.408) have led the Mavericks’ lineup, but it is not a high-powered offense. They rank fifth in the conference in runs and are down to just 12 healthy hitters.

Thomas said the hitters have done a good job of buying into the concept of playing multiple positions necessitated by the short bench and of coming up in the clutch.

“We don’t strike out very much, we put the ball in play and force them to make plays,” he said. “We’ve just been executing. When we need a big hit, we’ve been getting it.”

UTA has also been very effective at playing on the road. The Mavericks are 18-6 away from Clay Gould Ballpark, where they are just 11-12. But they have played better at home of late and enter the weekend on a five-game home winning streak.

As well as UTA is playing right now, it will likely need to win the conference tournament to make its first appearance in regionals since 2012. It is No. 78 in RPI, putting it outside consideration for an at-large bid.

Thomas said the Mavericks understand what they need to do down the stretch and are ready for the challenge.

“We need to keep playing well at the end and make a run in the tournament,” Thomas said. “They know how hard it is. They would really want to make a run.”

News and Notes

Gavin Sheets’ two home runs tonight. Both bombs. Up to 17 this year. #mlbdraft pic.twitter.com/sLYzX4XsU8

— Michael Lananna (@mlananna) May 6, 2017

Atlantic Coast Conference: No. 16 Wake Forest leads the country with 82 home runs in 48 games. It is the first time the Demon Deacons have hit 80 home runs since 1999. First baseman Gavin Sheets leads Wake with 17 home runs, the sixth most in the country.

Big 12 Conference: Texas Christian catcher Evan Skoug has pulled out of an early-season slump in a big way. The junior’s batting average dipped to .175 on March 17, but in the 29 games since he has raised his average more than 100 points and is now hitting .282/.382/.508. Skoug leads the fifth-ranked Horned Frogs with 12 home runs this season, the most hit by a TCU player since 2010.

Big Ten Conference: Iowa needs one more win for its 30th of the season, which would give the Hawkeyes four straight 30-win years for the first time since winning at least 30 games from 1979-1985. The Hawkeyes’ current streak began in coach Rick Heller’s first season and includes their 2015 NCAA Tournament berth. Prior to Heller’s arrival for the 2014 season, Iowa’s last 30-win season was in 2010.

Pac-12 Conference: This weekend marks the final time Stanford coach Mark Marquess, who is retiring at the end of the season, will face archrival California. The Golden Bears are coached by Dave Esquer, who played for Marquess at Stanford and was an assistant coach under him. The Cardinal have already beaten the Golden Bears twice in nonconference midweek games and need just one win this weekend to clinch the season series for the ninth straight year. Sunday will also mark the 2,500th game Marquess has coached.

Southeastern Conference: Arkansas this week will flip righthanders Blaine Knight and Trevor Stephan in its rotation. Stephan (5-3, 3.14) moves up a day to Friday night following a one-hit shutout last Saturday against Tennessee. Knight (6-3, 3.63), the Razorbacks’ Opening Day starter, moves to Saturday. He threw one inning last Thursday against Tennessee before that game was suspended to Saturday. He returned to throw four more innings after the resumption. The change creates a matchup of Knight against Vanderbilt righthander Kyle Wright (2-5, 3.35), who projects to be drafted in the top half of the first round next month.

Other conferences: The Missouri Valley Conference announced Tuesday that it has invited Valparaiso to join the conference beginning next school year. Valpo, currently a member of the Horizon League, would fill the void left in the conference by Wichita State’s departure for the American Athletic Conference. But the MVC might not be done. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the MVC will continue exploring expansion candidates with the possibility of adding two more members next year. Murray State, Nebraska-Omaha and Wisconsin-Milwaukee were all also evaluated as candidates to join the league. . . The NCAA announced Academic Progress Rate scores this week and baseball’s overall four-year rate ticked up three points to 973, higher than both football and men’s basketball. Alabama A&M and Southern did not meet the minimum APR threshold, however, and will be ineligible for the postseason in 2018 as a result.