The Mavericks (3-1) held on for a 7-5 victory over the No. 5 ranked Longhorns after a dramatic ninth inning that concluded with freshman pitcher Chad Nack getting the final two outs with the bases loaded.

The upset victory over Texas (2-2) was the sixth victory over a top-25 team in the last two years and 14th total for head coach Darin Thomas, who is now 2-2 against the Longhorns since 2008.

“I told our guys that’s why you play the schedule we play,” Thomas said. “It’s opportunities like these that you have to take advantage of. We are 3-1 and all four of them being on the road. You find out how competitive your team is when you go through these kind of games.”

Senior relief pitcher Lance Day retired eight consecutive batters from the fifth inning through the seventh and gave up just four hits and two earned runs. Day, who picked up the win, started the ninth inning by giving a base-hit up the middle to Longhorns’ sophomore catcher Jacob Felts, who was then thrown out at third base trying to advance on a single from the next batter. Day hit the next batter and then walked the bases loaded with just one out in the inning.

UTA then replaced Day with senior pitcher Adam Westbrook,who walked the only batter he’d see in the game and brought on Nack to attempt the save. Nack not only stepped up to the pressure, getting a strike out and a ground out to second base to end the game.

“It shouldn’t have ended that dramatically,” Day said. “We gave them a bit too much excitement but Adam came in and had a real close call on a full count and Nack came in to finish them off.”

UTA struck first in the first inning with a single to right from junior outfielder Preston Beck that scored freshman infielder Derek Miller from third. Texas responded in the bottom half of the first by tying the game at one, and then adding two more in the second when sophomore infielder Christian Summers tripled to left-field and then scored on a sacrifice fly from the next batter to lead 3-1.

Pitching then fell apart for the Longhorns as the Mavs put up four runs in the third inning. Miller doubled in junior outfielder Brandon Lawrence, and then Beck blasted a home run to right field to put the Mavericks up 5-3. UTA would cross the plate again in the fourth when a hard-hit ball to the first basemen was misplayed, scoring junior infielder Stewart Hill and Lawrence and giving the Mavericks a 7-3 lead.

This is the third game in which UTA has scored first. Beck said it’s a good feeling knowing that every first inning he has an at-bat with runners in scoring position. Beck finished with two hits and three RBIs in the game.

“Early on in batting practice I was a little too big and I need to shorten up my stroke,” Beck said. “I found it on my last round and went out there feeling good at the plate.”

The game was the first of the four for UTA that the Mavericks didn’t have 10 hits in the game. The Mavs found ways to put runners on by drawing walks that Thomas attributed to great at-bats.

“We really were patient at the plate tonight and we had some wild outs with some line drives and got a great outing from our pitchers,” he said. “Our pitchers couldn’t have pitched a better game.”