RICHARDSON, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team put together a stellar day at the plate, totaling ten hits, but they were unable to outlast UT Dallas, falling 7-6 in the series finale on Saturday.
 
The rubber match saw a combined 13 runs and 25 hits as both teams brought out the bats, but a UTD run in the eighth made the difference, and the Tornados dropped the decisive series finale.
 
Chris Varljen went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base, and Kalen Moreno matched him with two hits and an RBI, leading the way for Concordia Texas at the plate. Shawn Huber also drove in a run with a big fly, his first of the season.
 
The Comets opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, plating three runs on four hits to take an early lead.
 
The Tornados answered in the following frame with back-to-back RBI singles from Moreno and Varljen, followed by an RBI squeeze bunt from Aaron Gomez. In the top of the second, CTX tied the game at 3-3.
 
In the bottom of the third, UT Dallas struck again, taking a 4-3 lead on a sacrifice fly.
 
The Comets added on in the fourth, providing an RBI single to extend the lead to 5-3.
 
In the top of the fifth, Dalton Watts worked a walk and eventually came around to score on an RBI single from the bat of Otto Franz. After five, the Tornados trailed 5-4.
 
The sixth inning began with a blast as Shawn Huber belted a homerun over the left field wall, and three straight singles from Moreno, Varljen, and Gomez loaded the bases, giving Watts the opportunity for an RBI groundout. In the top of the sixth, CTX took a 6-5 lead.
 
In the following frame, UTD evened the score at 6-6 on a CTX throwing error.
 
The seventh inning ended with the score still locked in a tie, but UT Dallas strung together two hits and plated the game-winning run on an RBI hit-by-pitch, taking a 7-6 lead heading into the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Tornados put the tying run in scoring position after Watts worked a leadoff walk and Franz executed a sacrifice bunt, but were unable to bring him home, ultimately falling 7-6.
 
The Tornados will return to action on their home field in Austin, Texas, hosting Ozarks for a three-game set starting with a doubleheader on Friday at 4 p.m.