RICHARDSON, Texas - The Howard Payne University baseball team fell 3-1 and 11-4 on Friday afternoon in the second and conclusive day of a three-game series vs. the University of Texas at Dallas. UT-Dallas clinches the #2 seed for the upcoming ASC Championship Tourney with the victory and the Jackets now rest in sixth place with conference play wrapping up over the weekend.

Howard Payne finishes the regular season with a 10-14 mark in conference play and an 18-20 record overall. They will look to enter postseason play with the sixth seed but the seeding is yet to be determined, Louisiana College, and Hardin-Simmons, the presumed seventh, eighth, and ninth place teams, meet tomorrow for two games that will help give further detail on the Jackets seeding for ASC Tournament play.

Michael Nowak finished the game 1-2 while batting in Howard Payne's solo run during the first game. Brett Quackenbush had a double and a run scored on 1-2 hitting in the loss and Jonathon George pitched four innings of scoreless baseball before being pulled in the sixth inning. But the Comets were able to bring one runner around in the sixth with a two-out single to left field to pull away with the 3-1 victory in seven innings.

Noah Payne finished game two with two runs scored, a double and a hit-by-pitch while Bailey Smith added a double, a RBI, and a run scored during the 11-4 loss. Ian Tyra brought in two runs and the Jackets would use a quartet of pitchers in the contest.

Both sides started the day scoreless through two full innings of play before the Comets were able to score two runs after leading off the inning with straight singles. After three full innings of play, UT-D would pull ahead, 2-0. After another scoreless inning in the fourth, Howard Payne would attempt to make it's run.

Brett Quackenbush got things started with a one-out double down the left field line and Noah Payne pushed him to third base with a fielder's choice groundout to the shortstop. That's when Michael Nowak would step up to the plate and drive in Quackenbush with a beautiful single through the left side to make 2-1 Comets after 5.5 innings.

The Comets were able to hold the Jackets bats scoreless over the next 1.5 innings and, after scoring one more run in the bottom of the sixth, held on to capture the 3-1 victory in game one of the doubleheader. The win clinched the series for UT-Dallas and assured them second place in the conference standings.

Game two started out entirely opposite of the first, with the Comets reeling off nine unanswered runs through the games' first three innings of play to pull ahead 9-0 early. The Jackets wouldn;t attempt a rally until the top of the fourth inning when Noah Payne and Bailey Smith led off the inning with back-to-back doubles. Smith's double scored Payne and put him in position to score on a fielders choice ground out to shortstop from Ian Tyra to cut into the deficit, 9-2.

The Comet's were able to get one run back in the bottom of the inning and go back up 10-2 and hold the Jackets scoreless in the fifth inning. After Noah Payne took a hit-by-pitch and Brendon Clanton reached base on a fielding error in the top of the sixth, Ian Tyra would score Payne with a single to right field. The Jackets were held scoreless again in the seventh and eighth innings before scoring one one run in the top of the ninth in a late rally. 

Chris Byrd led off the inning with a single to third base, advanced to second and third on consecutive wild pitches. After Cyrus Coleman work a walk, Jacob Salazar hit ball deep enough in the outfield that Byrd could score on the sacrifice fly but it would be too late. The Comets hold on to pick up the 11-4 victory in nine innings.

Up next, the Jackets will await the results of a few contests across the American Southwest Conference to determine their standing for the upcoming ASC Baseball Tournament. Currently, Howard Payne is sitting at sixth place in the standings with Louisiana College, Hardin-Simmons, and Sul-Ross all battling it out for the final seeds. (The latter two teams are set to match-up against each other later this evening. *Belhaven would ordinarily be the #6 seed but is ineligible for ASC postseason play)

Stay tuned to HPUSports.com and @HPUHardball on Twitter for news on match-ups and standings in the upcoming days. Also, follow us on Instagram, @HPUSports for in-game updates, interactive content and more.