With its back against the wall on the road, The University of Texas at Dallas baseball team dug deep and hammered its way back to the NCAA tournament.
The Comets (34-14) won their second straight — and third overall — American Southwest Conference (ASC) title, overcoming an opening-game loss to sweep the second and third contests against host East Texas Baptist University in Marshall.
They sealed their automatic bid into the Division III field with a 12-5 win May 14. UT Dallas will host Trinity University (32-10) in a best-of-five regional series, which begins May 19. The winner will advance to the Super Regionals on May 27-28.
UT Dallas hit 10 homers during the three-day ASC series, going deep four times in the clincher. Ramon Garza had a pair of three-run homers in Game 3, sealing tournament MVP honors. Garza was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Dylan Hugley, Joshua Wood, Andrew Skivington and Marcos Villegas.
UT Dallas had to prevail in four elimination games in the ASC’s playoffs, including the 8-6 Game 2 victory that set up Saturday’s decider. Game 3 gave the Comets their 34th win of the season, matching the program record.
Women’s Tennis Team Falls in NCAA 2nd Round
The UT Dallas women’s tennis team reached the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament, eliminating Linfield University 5-1 on May 13, at the UTD Tennis Complex. The win was the program’s second-ever victory in the national tournament. The Comets fell to No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer, the joint athletics program for Pomona College and Pitzer College, 5-0 the following day.
Elyssa Ducret, Suzuka Nishino and Samantha Wong sealed the victory over Linfield with singles wins after the doubles teams gave UT Dallas (12-3) a 2-1 lead.
Wong and Nishino have been invited to compete in the national singles championships May 27-29 in Orlando, Florida.
Alvarez Finishes Historic Comet Golf Season
UT Dallas golfer Karen Alvarez shot a 6-over 78 on May 12, to finish the first 54 holes of the NCAA Division III women’s golf championships in a tie for 60th place.
Alvarez’s three-round total of 238 at Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston was good enough for the third-lowest three-round total in Comets history. Alvarez was the first UT Dallas women’s golfer to play in the national individual tournament.
Distance Runners Claim ASC Track Crowns
Trent Sakakini won three individual titles at the ASC track and field championships held May 5-7 in Abilene, Texas.
Sakakini took home championships in the men’s 800-meter and 1,500-meter runs and the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He set a school record in the 800 with a time of 1:55.25 and was selected as the outstanding track athlete of the event.
Devan Bailey added two titles for the Comets, winning the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs.