ARLINGTON, Texas – HBU junior lefthander
Matthew McCollough hurled his first career complete game and struck out a career-high 10 as the Huskies claimed a 2-1 victory over UT Arlington in the UTA Hilton Invitational Saturday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.
McCollough (2-0) allowed one run on six hits and did not give up a walk. He surpassed his previous high of eight strikeouts, which came last Saturday against Prairie View A&M.
"I'm just on top of the world right now," McCollough said. "The changeup was really working and it was important for me to stay ahead in the count to keep them off-balanced, so they didn't know what was coming. It's a great feeling and I couldn't be happier to help us get this win."
Junior second baseman
Justin Monsour went 2-for-3 and added a sacrifice bunt for the Huskies (5-2), while junior designated hitter
Austin Saenz went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Senior third baseman
Curtis Jones went 2-for-5 and junior leftfielder
Brandon Morones doubled and drove in the game-winning run.
Zach Hobbs (0-1) took the loss for UTA (3-4), allowing a run on three hits in 1.2 innings. Starter Reid Petty allowed one run on four hits with five strikeouts and a walk in 4.0 innings. Daniel James shut the Huskies out over the final 3.1 innings, allowing two hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Eric Tate went 2-for-3 with a double and scored the Mavericks only run. Christian Hollie had a triple and drove in UTA's run.
Saenz and junior first baseman
Andrew Alvarez led off the second with back-to-back singles, then Monsour moved them up with a sacrifice bunt. After Morones struck out, senior rightfielder
Thomas Clay reached on an error, which allowed Saenz to score and give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
UTA tied it up in the third when Tate led off with a double, then Hollie striped a two-out triple down the rightfield line.
Saenz singled past the shortstop with one out in the sixth, but was forced out at second when Alvarez reached on a fielder's choice. After an infield single by Monsour, Morones ripped a double to leftcenter to put HBU ahead, 2-1.
The Mavericks threatened to tie the game in ninth as Travis Sibley led off with a single and RJ Williams smacked a two-out single up the middle to put the tying run in scoring position. McCollough regrouped and struck out Darien McLemore on three pitches to end the game.
The Huskies return to action when they travel to face No. 15 Texas A&M Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. at Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas. The audio broadcast can be heard on HBUHuskies.com, beginning with the pregame show at 6:20.
