• Znine
• Campus Calendar
• My Mav
• UTA Radio
• UTA Home
• Student Email
• Libraries
• Wikipedia

• Local Forecast
• Movie Listings
• Traffic Info
• TV Listings

May 4, 2007

Baseball

UTA looks for wins in Thibodaux

Ailing Mavs will face the last place Colonels in a three-game SLC series.

Story by: Sean McNamara

Contributor to The Shorthorn

The Mavericks baseball team will travel to Thibodaux, La., this weekend to battle the Nicholls State Colonels in a three-game Southland Conference series.

This will be the first time since conference play started that the Mavs will play a team with a worse record than their own. The Colonels suffered through an 18-game losing streak in the middle of the season and just came off an eight-game losing streak. Still, UTA will have to come to play to get wins this weekend.

“It’s tough in our situation,” associate head coach Darin Thomas said. “Just winning one game is a struggle for us.”

UTA will take the field with a 3-18 conference record, 12-31 overall. Nicholls State is 2-19 in conference and 6-40 overall.

With 10 games left in the season and no hopes of postseason play, the coaches have stressed individual accomplishments to the players. They want the seniors to go out on top and give the juniors a chance to improve and prepare for next season.

“It’s tough to keep motivated,” Thomas said. “I’m proud of our guys for hanging in there.”

If UTA’s defense can back up a solid performance on the mound and the offense can score early and often, the team will have a good chance of dominating the series.

That means shortstop Kyle Rudy and designated hitter Danny Slinkman need to pound the ball into holes and get on base and in scoring position every time to create opportunities. First baseman Ben Burum has brought in 25 runners this season and will need to be at the top of his game to put points on the board.

The Mavs will catch a break this weekend and not have to contain powerhouse hitters much like weekends past. The Colonel’s best hitter is infielder Whitney Dawes, who is batting a .277. The No.2 hitter is the team’s pinch hitter, which has a .221 batting average, and his 19 RBI’s lead the team.

The Colonel’s best pitcher is also struggling and has a 6.37 era with a record of 1-9.

UTA will return to Clay Gould Ballpark next weekend as it faces off against Stephen F. Austin in their final appearance before heading to Corpus Christi to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

“There’s a huge amount of stress to deal with,” Thomas said. “It’s not easy to play when you have nothing to play for.