A New Coat of Paint

There was big news from both a UT Arlington perspective and conference affiliation shuffling that came out this week. As has been the case for its entire history, the Western Athletic Conference will survive, despite the handwringing from the media and social media circles.

What was known prior to this week was Seattle University and Grand Canyon were out of the conference at the end of this month. Common belief among the remaining WAC members was good riddance to the second. That left seven schools, Abilene Christian, California Baptist, Southern Utah, Tarleton State, Utah Tech, Utah Valley along with UTA, for the upcoming athletic year. Seven is the minimum for an automatic berth into the men's basketball tournament.

California Baptist accepted an invitation from the Big West Conference several months ago and Utah Valley formally did the same last month. That would leave only five members for the 2026/27 athletic year. With limited options in the footprint, schools bailing for competitively weaker conferences and no Division II schools ready to move, people were predicting the WAC's demise.

End of Year

With the Western Athletic Conference Tournament over, UT Arlington baseball again getting eliminated and a sub.500 record, the year is over. With the exception of a few individuals in the track and field sports, that effectively means the 2024/25 athletic season is over.

I'll do a brief recap, later, but in the WAC tourney, the Mavericks over performed as a seven seed and went 2-2 in the field.

In the entry prior to the conference tournament, I pondered how hard it was for a team who swept another in the regular season to win a fourth game in the postseason. UTA took all three from Tarleton State, one by a run, another by two.

Somehow, the opening game was never close and it was UTA, who either wins big or loses close, who bombed the Tarleton State Texans 10-1. TSU had one of the better front-line pitchers in the WAC with Junior pitcher Brian Panneton. For whatever reason, he didn't start. The Mavs got four runs off the starter in the first inning and never looked back. UTA's Sophomore pitcher Caylon Dygert went six and a third innings pitched and gave up the one earned run. 

That was an important win as seeds five through eight play each with the loser's run in the tournament ending at one game. That set the stage for UTA taking on Utah Valley, the three seed. UTA swept the Wolverines in Arlington and going for a fourth win would be tough. 

Postseason Baseball

The UT Arlington Mavericks start the Western Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday. This may be one of the hardest conference tournaments that UTA has participated in to handicap as UTA can play with anyone but has proven they can lose to anyone as well.

I'll start with how they got there. Going into the last two conference series of the year, UTA was on track to really move up in the standings. They were facing the two teams at the bottom of the WAC in Utah Tech on the road and Seattle at home. Sadly, they lost both series, but didn't get swept. Had they won both series, but not swept, they'd be in a tie for third place and have a first round bye. Instead, they are in sole possession of seventh place.

Against Seattle, they lost by scores of 2-6 and 5-10. I've noted a few times this year that UTA specializes in losses of three runs or less. I haven't determined if I'd rather have the Mavs lose to the only team not to make the conference tournament by larger or smaller margins. A loss is a loss, but it would have been nice to see a little more fight. The Mavs won on senior day 8-1.

To recap, UTA has a 19-31 record. Nine losses, roughly 29 percent of their total losses, are by one run. Five losses are by two runs and three L's are by three runs. Over half of the losses were a base hit or home run away from a different outcome. But when they win, it is by a large margin. 11 of the 19 wins are by five runs or more.

Maverick Stadium will see the Pigskin Again

 Big news out of Arlington Thursday as the UT Arlington Mavericks will be bringing football to the official sports offering of the Athletic Department. 

I thought about using that line on the Western Athletic Conference message boards, but wanted the full qualifier in the title there to avoid misleading the average reader. I did it to one of my sons who got really excited. He wanted to go to Maverick Stadium in the fall.

But here, either you already know the news or, for some weird reason, you choose the Maverick Rambler as your news and know my irreverent style already.

Women's Flag football will debut on campus for the Spring 2027 season.

2025 Diamond Quickhits

I wanted a fuller post on the end of the softball season and the second-to-last weekend of the baseball regular season, but big news dropped out of the UT Arlington Athletic Department today that will take the bulk of my limited time to produce these entries.

The softball team ended their season with a 4-1 loss to the host California Baptist Lancers in the Western Athletic Conference tournament. I really dislike the WAC's format, as the first games by the five through eight seeds are single-elimination, but UTA ends the year on a 4-13 slide and a once promising winning season, which hasn't happened since 2019, eluded UTA again. The Mavericks finished 24-25 on the year,

The baseball team kept their theme intact for the year. They lost a weekend series 1-2 at the last-place team in the WAC. After winning 11-1 in eight innings against Utah Tech, to open the three-game set UTA dropped game two 10-8 and game three 9-7.

Limping Towards the End

In the recent UT Arlington softball posts, I have mentioned the downward trend the team is on as the season comes to a close. The trend did not reverse itself this past weekend in the season finale and senior day at Allan Saxe Field. 

Heading into the series, UTA was 23-22. They are hoping for their first winning season since 2019. They were playing a team tied with them in the standings at their own friendly confines. They were playing for their seniors at home. All the pieces were there for a bump heading to the Western Athletic Conference tournament in Riverside California.

Coming into this weekend, UTA had won two of its last 12 games. After climbing to 21-10 and 6-3 in the WAC, the Mavericks looked like they were on pace for their best season in a while. But a sweep at the hands of Grand Canyon and series losses to Utah Valley, California Baptist, Southern Utah and now Seattle have put that in jeopardy

UTA will need to go at least 3-2 in the conference tournament for that winning record or split to avoid a losing season. There's an additional impediment that the other teams aren't facing to reach that goal.

Much Needed Weekend

The theme of the 2025 UT Arlington baseball team has been one of near misses. This past weekend did not exhibit any of the traits I have observed this season. It was one of the more dominant weekends this year.

In the last post regarding baseball, I had the following quote:

Eight one-run losses, two losses by two runs and three losses by three account for 13 of UTA's  24 losses.

Counting the week after that post, but prior to this weekend, that number had grown to nine one-run losses and three two-run losses. UTA lost by one run to Grand Canyon and had a two-run setback to Texas Christian in a midweek loss.

The Slide Continues

The UT Arlington softball team was hoping for a redemption weekend on the road against the University of Southern Utah and they were on pace for it, but for the first time that I have personally witnessed, UTA was just as big an impediment to a win as their opponent.

Going into the series, both teams were 8-10 in the Western Athletic Conference and fighting for positioning in the standings and the upcoming conference tournament. With two series left, it was a pretty big weekend.

In game one, things went about as expected. The Mavericks won 14-5 in an abbreviated five innings. The offense scored in every inning but the fourth, culminated by five in the second inning and six runs in the third. Utility Junior Marley Nieses, Sophomore catcher Mia McNulty and utility Sophomore Kaitlyn Sailor each hit a home run. Sixth-year pitcher Emilie Hoelscher picked up the win.

Shooting Blanks

I normally don't like putting two sports in the same post for a few reasons. One of those reasons is I try to try keep a theme to the post and different sports and/or teams tend to be on different trajectories or have different personalities. However, this past week, both the baseball and softball teams from UT Arlington had a very similar performance. Each had a winless weekend. While I could put up two shorter posts rather than one medium one, the theme seems fitting to keep them together.

In last week's softball entry, I noted how there was a bit of a slide entering the weekend after a really good start to the season, losing the previous two Western Athletic Conference series, winning one and losing two in consecutive weekends. Well, this past weekend was worse overall. With the ever-hated Grand Canyon Antelopes coming to Allan Saxe Field, UTA had a chance to make a little bit of noise, but it did not pan out. 

On Friday, UTA lost consecutive doubleheader games in a run-rule fashion, 3-11 and 1-10, each ending after six innings. Sophomore pitcher Abi Gutierrez started the first game and went five innings, giving up eight runs, six earned, in the loss. Sixth-year pitcher Emilie Hoelscher started the second and had a nearly equally rough outing, 5.2 innings pitched, nine runs given up, six earned. UTA never had a lead in either game.

Hitting a Stride

The UT Arlington softball team may well be the most surprising team of the current athletic season. The volleyball team won a regular season and tournament crown, bucking a general UTA trend of disappointing performances in the postseason in all sports, but were picked second in the preseason polls. The cross country teams finished in the approximate position of their pre-race picks prior to the conference race. Same with the indoor track teams. The women's basketball team was like the volleyball girls. The men's basketball team may be in the running, but in today's era of transfers nothing surprises me regardless of the preseason pick.

This blog entry would have been a little more on topic two weeks ago, but consecutive 1-2 weekends have dropped their position in the Western Athletic Conference standings. Picked in a tie for seventh in the WAC, the Mavs are currently in a tie for third. After five straight losing seasons, they are currently 22-16 overall and 8-7 in the WAC.

Looking at the stat lines for the team, there is no one dominant reason for the over .500 record. What we have seen over the last few weeks has been team play, getting a timely hit or out when needed, stiff defense and a general improvement in the team performance.

Trading One for Two

The 2025 version of the UT Arlington baseball has been a theme: fairly consistent from start to April. That consistency has been seen in the series, stats, records and performance. While the average sports fan tends to want consistency, what this UTA team has shown has been a hair below par.

I'll start with the series' so far this year. Between both conference and non-conference series, UTA has played eight to this point. All but a weather shortened two-game set against Oklahoma State saw three games played. The good news, the Mavericks have not been swept to this point in three full games. However, UTA hasn't earned a sweep either. 

UTA has won two series of the eight, the first against UT San Antonio on the road to open the year and the second occurred at Clay Gould against Little Rock in the middle of March. In addition to OSU, UTA has lost to Houston, Louisiana-Monroe, Sacramento State, California Baptist, and Lamar.

To add insult to injury, UTA is 1-5 in midweek games. Sam Houston State, Oklahoma, Texas-Austin, Baylor and a ranked Dallas Baptist account for the five losses. Three were to ranked teams. UTA stopped the streak on Tuesday against TCU. It took April for the Mavs to see their first non-weekend win.

Hoops Closes Out 2025 - Women's Edition

 As mentioned at the start of the last post, the UT Arlington women's basketball team concluded their season this month. Unlike the men, they ended on a higher note. Like the men, the losses they faced were to teams that are hard to lose to in any sport. 

UTA opened the Western Athletic Conference tournament against California Baptist and after splitting the season series, UTA was looking to advance, which they did, 72-66. UTA used a nine-point first quarter advantage and two two-point second and third quarters to weather a seven-point deficit in the fourth for the six-point win. 

That set the stage for a semifinal affair with Tarleton. Like CBU, UTA split the regular season games against the Texans and were looking for a series win. UTA trailed by one at the half, but wore out the Texans for a 66-55 win. 

Hoops Closes Out 2025 - Men's Edition

Both versions of the UT Arlington basketball teams concluded their seasons at different points of March and heading into the offseason, the squads are playing different notes. In the current era of the NCAA, momentum and returnees mean little, but as a fan, it means something. So with that, let's look at the conclusion of the basketball seasons.

The men ended their campaign in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament on March 12th. Adding insult to injury was the team the Mavericks lost to in the quarterfinals. 

When UTA joined the WAC, I watched the New Mexico State / Grand Canyon University stakeholders go back-and-forth on the it's-a-rivalry/not-a-rivalry. I assumed it was due to NMSU's fan base and their reluctance to say the Aggie program, with its century of competition and long list of accomplishments, didn't want to be associated as a rival with a school that recently transitioned and had no history. Turns out, between how that school funds its athletic programs and how obnoxious its fan base is, NMSU didn't want to give the impression programs were similar. 

Ladies Tourney Tidbits

UTA opens the Western Athletic Conference Tournament tomorrow and like the men, here's some random factoids regarding the Lady Mavericks and their respective conference tournaments.

Entering the 2025 WAC tournament in Las Vegas, UTA earned the third seed after finishing in a tie for second and losing the tiebreaker to Tarleton State. It will be the seventh time UTA will enter a conference tourney at three spot.

After hosting a tourney in 1983, the Southland Conference abstained for four years, hosting the second in 1989. UTA got its first three seed in 1997, beating UTSA.

It was the first of three straight years at that seed as in 1998, the Mavericks lost to Northwestern State and in 1999, the Mavs defeated Sam Houston.

Tourney Tidbits

As mentioned yesterday, the UTA men start the conference tournament tomorrow against Grand Canyon in the late game. On the eve of the Western Athletic Conference tournament games at the Orleans Arena, here's some random conference tournament factoids surrounding the men's program.

UTA has been the seventh seed eight times amongst the three conference they have been a part of since the Southland Conference's first tourney in 1981. There were some years only four or six teams would qualify and UTA didn't make it. But this does not contain when UTA finished seventh and did not make a conference tournament.

UTA was a seventh seed seven times in the SLC, once in the Sun Belt Conference and now once in the WAC. Using math to state the obvious, this is the ninth time UTA will be a seven seed.

WAC-ing time

Both basketball teams start the conference tournament this week after different ends to the conference schedule. While there are clear favorites for both sides, both teams are certainly capable. However, enthusiasm is not where it was last year overall, though the teams seem on different trajectories.

For the ladies, after a previous five-game losing streak, they ended the year with a dominant 87-73 win over California Baptist. After trailing by three at the end of the first quarter, the Mavs got on one of those runs I mentioned were lacking in the five-game losing streak. An 18-7 stretch in the second quarter keyed the victory. A layup by Senior guard Taliyah Clark gave the Mavericks a 26-25 lead and UTA would never trail. The Mav advantage climbed to almost 20 in the third quarter. UTA did give up a 13-4 run in the fourth quarter to narrow their lead to five. Graduate forward Avery Brittingham got back-to-back baskets and the Mavs turned it on the remainder of the way to seal the victory.

On a bright spot, the 10-1 home record this year was the best home winning percentage since a 10-1 mark in 2006/07.

The win was the tenth in conference for the Mavericks. UTA tied with Tarleton State for second with a 10-6 Western Athletic Conference record. The Texans were the surprise team of the conference at an overall 19-12 mark. The teams split the regular season by winning on their home floors. By virtue of their -.0115 score in the controversial WAC resume seeding system that former WAC commissioner Brian Thornton pioneered (and was widely despised by conference members) the Texans earned the second seed. UTA had a -1.585 score.

Limping Towards the End

Sometimes it can be a challenge getting two posts up in a week when The Maverick Rambler is a hobby. I'm a proud dad who watched his oldest son go from playing the B team in football in eighth grade, cut from the seventh-grade basketball team to an every-game starter for both sports his freshman year this season. I've got two others that play all three common sports in some youth league or another. Sports seasons are hectic. Coupled with an eighteen-month-old, a full-time job, a wife that fortunately wants to spend time with me, time is at a premium. 

Each post usually takes several hours to compose, edit and, despite the errors that do make it, proofread. I'm not a fan of articles that say little and exist to be clicked on. While I could say X team did this, it was ____ and they do this next, I like to get a little more in depth. That however, takes time. The writing time is large, but manageable. The research is much larger.

I strive to get at least one post a week for the sports going at the time. Most times that morphs into late season sports getting the bulk of the attention. I want to get both basketballs into the mix, but in the last three weeks, the women's team was neglected. 

That's a long-winded way of saying, I'm combining the two teams into this week's post. It fits as well as when the theme of this point in the season is similar.

Home Stretch

As the 2024/25 season is on its way to the record books, the UT Arlington men's basketball team had an eventful two weeks in latter February, setting the stage for an interesting end to the regular season. The road will be uphill, but a successful 2-1 homestand was really needed.

The start came in a dramatic come-from-behind win over California Baptist. The Mavericks trailed by 17 points in the second half. That Lancer lead was built with five minutes gone after halftime. At the time, CBU was sitting solidly in third place in the Western Athletic Conference and it looked like the standings would be reflected in the score.

After trading three points, the lead was still 17 for the Lancers when UTA went on a 20-2 run to grab a brief lead. UTA needed only five minutes or so to do it as well. In these scenarios, I like to highlight someone who keyed the run, but so many Mavs contributed via steals, offensive rebounds, made shots and even free throws (which has been the Mavs Achilles Heel this year) that it is hard to name one person.

Test Time

 It was a successful last week for the UT Arlington women's basketball team as they avenged their lone conference loss and put a little separation in the Western Athletic Conference standings between themselves and third place. That sets the stage for the toughest week of the conference season as two road trips to good teams await.

When the Mavericks previously played Utah Valley in Orem, Utah on January 16, UTA got an early lead in the first quarter before losing it, then in the second, the deficit climbed to double digits. The Mavs were unable to climb out of that hole as they basically played even from that point.

In Arlington last week, the formula was the same in the first half, but in the third quarter, UTA used several mini runs to stay within striking distance, which culminated in their first lead since the beginning of the game with less than a minute to go until the fourth. UVU answered and the fourth started with a tie game.

Streaking Down Again

Counting this new entry, the Maverick Rambler has made three posts regarding the UT Arlington men's basketball team in Western Athletic Conference play, and all of them involve a streak, either winning or losing. The first one dealt with the four-game losing streak to open conference play, while the second had an equal streak of four, just those games went in the win column. 

Now, after this past week's performance, two road games in the WAC, the Mavericks again embarked on a losing streak, plunging two games below .500 and now sit sixth in the standings.

The first loss wasn't unexpected, but to say the score differential was disappointing is an understatement. The Utah Valley Wolverines are in first at this point by 1.5 games and have a 4-1 record against teams sitting in second through fourth. They are in the driver's seat to say the least. 

But they are a great example of where UTA could be, as the Mavs had a late, multi-possession lead in regulation and ultimately a tie game in overtime with single-digit seconds remaining. They can compete with anyone in the conference. But in Orem on Thursday, that did not seem to be the case.

Halfway There

While the most memorable basketball comes in March, the best and most meaningful regular season basketball occurs in February and as the UT Arlington men's team starts the month, they have made a noticeable effort at the end of January to help give February more meaning.

The last time the Maverick Rambler posted about the UTA men, they were last in the Western Athletic Conference at 0-4. Now, the streak is the same, just in the other direction as the Mavs stopped the slide with a win against Seattle (65-56), a road win at Abilene Christian (79-76 in OT) and rematch wins in Arlington versus Southern Utah (70-68) and Utah Tech (73-71).

I mentioned in the last post that Head Coach K.T. Turner was 9-4 when playing a team from the Western Athletic Conference a second and third time. The two wins this week moved that mark to 11-4 and 2-0 this year. 

Tighter than Expected

When the Western Athletic Conference started play for the women's basketball teams, I thought the UT Arlington squad was a top half, but not top third team overall. I believed they might pull off an upset or two, but that there would be a clear hierarchy for the teams.

But as of this post, the team sits in second place with a solid 7-1 record halfway through the conference season, one game behind preseason favorite Grand Canyon, who, as much as it pains me to give this private (not) not-for-profit private school diploma mill the top spot, was my pick to win the regular season.

Now, there's a bit of a catch. The Mavericks have had an easy start to the schedule. Of the top four teams, UTA notwithstanding, UTA is only 1-1 so far. Against the bottom half, the remaining four teams, UTA is 6-0. 

Is Ice Cold too Warm?

Four games into the 2025 Western Athletic Conference schedule and there's no more worst-case scenario as far as result go than this for the UT Arlington men's basketball team. The Mavericks sit at the bottom of the standings at 0-4, tied with Abilene Christian one-quarter through the WAC slate.

The small bright side is that three of the losses were on the road and the fourth was to the conference leader at home. In that game, and two others, UTA had a lead late and could not hold it. The WAC has a good track record of home team wins, so the possibility of a rebound similar to last year is there, but the Mavs have to figure something out.

I heard Josh Sours mention before the Utah Valley broadcast that UTA was kind of in a must win situation when he interviewed head coach KT Turner in the pre-game. With every team making the conference tournament, I don't agree with that sentiment. A regular season championship is ceremonious in meaning and only the tournament winner has weight. 

But, as far as confidence and fan support, I think he's right.

Mixed Results with an Upward Trend

It's been roughly a month since the Maverick Rambler checked in on the UT Arlington women's basketball team, much too long by any metric. They last appeared here with a 3-5 record in non-conference, closing in on the start of the regular season.

After getting a quality 61-57 win at home against the Houston Cougars, the Mavs sat 2-5 against Division I competition and the Florida International Panthers sitting on the horizon to complete the WAC/CUSA scheduling agreement.

UTA would close the remaining three conference games with a couple of wins and a loss to UT San Antonio on the road. On of the wins was to the NAIA's Wiley College. UTA closed out the non-conference schedule with a 5-6 record, 3-6 against DI.

This will likely get repetitive, but graduate transfer forward Koi Love and fellow graduate student forward Avery Brittingham led the charge, got a combined 84 points and 50 rebounds in the three games.

Conference Eve

The non-conference portion of the schedule has concluded for both UT Arlington basketball teams, as well as all of the Western Athletic Conference teams, and for both genders the results are mixed. The good news, except for a couple of outliers either way, UTA's fortunes were the same as their conference brethren. I'll get a separate post about the women soon.

On the men's side, they last appeared in The Maverick Rambler right before their Thanksgiving event in Florida. In what I thought would be a good measuring stick on where the Mavs stood, Murray State defeated UTA in a neutral game, 79-66. The Mavericks trailed 14 at the half and won the second by a point. In what will be a trend in losses, they shot poorly behind the arc, four of 17. Transfer Graduate Student forward Lance Ware kept them in it as best he could with 26 points and nine rebounds. 

UTA rebounded in the next game, 68-58 against the Atlantic Sun Conference's Austin Peay. The Mavs made five more three's with the same number of attempts. Junior transfer guard Brody Robinson led the way with 16, of which only six points came from three-point land. UTA trailed by as much as five in the second half, got a brief lead after five minutes gone then traded leads for about five minutes. The final portion of the second half was all UTA.