GEORGETOWN, Texas — A disastrous second inning put the Southwestern baseball team in a hole it could never recover from, losing 7-2 to the undefeated University of Texas at Dallas Comets.
The evening started promising with a three-up, three-out defensive stand in the top of the first inning for Southwestern. Leadoff hitter Ted Lobkowicz carried that momentum into the bottom of the inning, starting things off with a triple.
Maxwell Mims followed with a groundout to the shortstop, scoring Lobkowicz for the 1-0 lead.
Southwestern unraveled in the second inning. The University of Texas at Dallas opened with back-to-back seeing-eye singles, finding gaps through the right side and just up the middle. Marcos Villegas followed with a two-RBI double to left-center.
After striking out Lucas Abbott, Southwestern starter Trey Dees hit a batter and walked two others, scoring a run on a walk with bases loaded, ending his evening. J.J. Slack relieved Dees, walking another run in and allowing two runs on a fielder's choice compounded by a throwing error, giving the Comets a 6-1 lead.
Braden Anderson took the mound for Southwestern to start the third inning, retiring the first two hitters before walking Abbott and giving up back-to-back singles, scoring Abbott on a Keagan Vance RBI-single to right field.
Southwestern added another run in the bottom of the fifth. The Pirates started the inning strong, opening with a Landon Durdin walk and James Vaquero single to center. Both advanced on a balk, putting two in scoring position. After Trent Raschke flew out to right field, Lobkowicz grounded out to shortstop, scoring Durdin. Mims flew out to center to end the inning.
The Pirates threatened with two outs in the bottom of the sixth with a Jake Harris double and two walks but left three stranded to end the inning with a strikeout in Southwestern's last great opportunity of the game.
Texas-Dallas added three more runs in the top of the eighth, scoring on an RBI-double from A.J. Liu and the other two runs on an error.
Jams Vaquero led Southwestern with a 3-for-4 performance. Lobkowicz and Harris provided Southwestern's other two hits. The Pirates drop to 2-1 this season and will host their annual alumni game on Saturday.