By Alan Wiederhold
Sports Information Director
LeTourneau University
RICHARDSON, Texas – Jacob Starnes scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning Friday to lift the UT-Dallas Comets to a 2-1 victory over the LeTourneau YellowJackets.
Starnes scored the game-winner with the aid of a fielding mishap and helped UT-Dallas (20-11) notch its seventh American Southwest Conference victory in 10 games.
The 135 fans in attendance were treated to a classic pitcher's duel, as UT-Dallas starter Derek Dallas and LeTourneau counterpart Jeremy Burke (Cypress, Texas/Cy-Fair) battled for more than seven innings.
Burke, a 6-foot-5-inch sophomore, turned in arguably the best performance of his young collegiate career Friday. He was charged for only one earned run and struck out three batters over 7 2/3 innings – his longest outing as a YellowJacket.
Burke answered the challenge of facing Dallas, the Comets' ace who entered the game with a record of 7-0 and a 1.38 ERA. The Jackets' hurler retired the first seven batters he faced and later in the game retired eight consecutive UT-Dallas hitters.
Dallas, meanwhile, pitched nine complete innings for the Comets and struck out six batters. Taylor Payne pitched two innings of relief to get the win for UT-Dallas.
LeTourneau (15-16, 3-7 ASC East) took a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning when Brent Sellers (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville) knocked a two-out base hit to left field to score Dustin Varnado (Gilmer, Texas/Gilmer) from second base.
The Comets tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning when Jason Diemer hit a double down the left field line to score Starnes from second.
Kirby Cantalamessa (Pearland, Texas/Home school) retired the Comets in order in the ninth and tenth innings but ran into trouble in the 11th. A base hit, a balk, and a second base hit with an error on the play gave the Comets the victory on an unearned run.
The YellowJackets and Comets resume their series Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to begin at noon at the UT-Dallas baseball field.