AUSTIN, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team got home runs from both Daniel Williams and Reed Carlton, but it was not enough as the Tornados fell to UT Dallas 9-3 Thursday in the opening game of the American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship series at Tornado Field.
 
CTX (29-15) must now win back-to-back games against the Comets on Friday and Saturday in order to grab ASC Tournament crown.
 
UT Dallas opened the game with a bang, scoring four runs in the top half of a first inning that included four hits, three of which were RBI base knocks.
 
Williams, a senior from Round Rock, Texas, got the Tornados within three when he lifted the second pitch her saw in the fifth inning over the left center field wall.
 
After UTD answered with a homer of their own in the top of the sixth, Carlton hit a towering two-run shot out over the left field wall to cut the lead to 5-3. The junior out of Austin, Texas, finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
 
The Tornados would not get any closer, however, as the Comets scored a single run in the top of the eighth and followed it with a three-run ninth to extend the lead to 9-3.
 
The series will continue tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. at Tornado Field with the Comets serving as the home team. The winner of the ASC Tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII West Regional in Spokane, Wash. May 17-21.