Baseball Clinch Series with Two Wins at Austin

SHERMAN, Texas - The University of Dallas baseball team won both games of their conference double-header against Austin College on Satuday.  They improve to 13-12 on the year and 4-4 in conference play.

GAME 1 - Dallas 8, Austin 5

WP: Dylan Krause (5-0)

LP: Garrett Gray (0-1)

SV: Graeme Williams (1)

Both teams nearly escaped the first inning unscathed, but Austin struck first thanks to a walk and a pair of doubles with two outs to take a 2-0 lead.  The Crusaders pulled one back with an RBI single by Fernando Davila, but were still trailing 2-1 after three innings.

Brett Castillo tied the game up with an RBI double, and Dallas added three more runs in the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead.  Caleb Hohman hit his team-leading third homerun of the season in the fifth inning to make it 6-2, then brought in Jake Amoroso on a groundout to make it 7-2 Dallas after six and a half.

The two teams traded blows over the last few innings, with Austin scoring two in the seventh, UD plating one in the eighth, and the Roos scoring one last consolation run while stranding two runners in the bottom of the ninth to seal the win for Dallas.

Dylan Krause picked up his fifth win of the season, going six and a third allowing three earned runs with seven strikeouts.  Graeme Williams came in and threw two and two-thirds to record his first save of the season.

GAME 2 - Dallas 9, Austin 0

WP: Dominic Gill (4-3)

LP: Trystan Mallory (0-1)

The final score doesn't tell the full story, as this game was quite close to the very end.  Both starting pitchers were dominant for much of the game, with neither team able to get a runner past second base and combining for just three hits across the first four innings.

Austin was close to striking first in the bottom of the fifth after a wild pitch put a runner on third with two outs, but Dominic Gill struck out Branson Vrazel for the final out of the inning to end the threat.

A walk and a couple of two-out knocks put the Crusaders up 1-0 in the sixth, as Peyton Garbett drove in Caleb Hohman with an infield single.  Both teams threatend in the seventh, with Dallas loading the bases and Austin getting runners on first and second, but both teams failed to capitalize.

Instead, a disastrous eighth inning for Austin saw the Crusaders suddenly jump out to a 7-0 lead, as Dallas plated six runs on just two hits thanks to three walks and three errors by the Roos.  Paxton Huff and Jake Amoroso drove in three runs on a double and a single, respectively.

Huff hit yeat another RBI double in the ninth to give the Crusaders ever more cushion, and the Roos were held scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to give Dallas the win and the series.  Huff finished the game 2-for-5 with four RBI.

Gill was brilliant on the mound, putting in eight innings of shutout ball with seven strikeouts.

The series concludes tomorrow with a single game, scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. first pitch.