EDMOND, Okla. - Oklahoma Christian opened the 2026 season with stellar pitching performances the first eight innings of Sunday's season-opener, but UT Dallas used a two-run ninth inning to escape with the 4-3 victory.

Through the first eight innings, starting pitcher Corbin Kwan, Evan Ballast and Jason Rickert combined to allow just two runs on seven hits while issuing seven strikeouts. Evan Ballast pitched 2.2 innings of relief, allowing just one hit while fanning five Comets to just one walk.

First-year Eagles Ruben Castro and Hunter Sandifer each recorded one hit while Sandifer sent his first hit in an OC uniform over the left-field wall for what was at the time the go-ahead run for the maroon-and-gray. Trey Migl reached base safely twice with a hit and a walk while recording one run.

Each team saw a smattering of hits through the early going, but no score was recorded until the fourth inning after an outfield error brought around the eventual first run of the season. In the bottom of the fourth, Dylan Darnall sent an RBI-double to score Connor Sanderson.

Both teams matched its fourth-inning outing with single runs in the fifth before UT Dallas was held runless for the first time in three frames in Ballast's first complete inning. In the home-half of the sixth, Sandifer gave OC its first lead of the afternoon with a left-field home run.

After taking the lead, Oklahoma Christian pitchers retired the next seven UTD batters in order until a one-out triple to deep right center field put the tying run at third. Four batters later, a two-out double gave the Comets its first lead since the fifth. A three-up, three-down bottom of the ninth gave Texas-Dallas the game-one win, 4-3.

Oklahoma Christian (0-1, 0-1 LSC) will return to Dobson Field for a pair of nine-inning contests to close out the series beginning at 12 p.m.