ORAL ROBERTS BEATS TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN IN A MARATHON GAME

March 20, 2004

Box Score

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Edinburg, Texas - #27 Oral Roberts (15-3) hung on for a 12-10 win over Texas-Pan American (13-14) in 13 innings Saturday night. It was a marathon game that lasted just over five hours. The Broncs and the Golden Eagles will wrap up the series with a 1:00 p.m game on Sunday.

Oral Roberts got on the scoreboard first. In the second inning, the Golden Eagles used two hits, one error and five walks to score four runs. In the third inning, Dennis Bigley led off with a walk, and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Nate Griffin barely cleared the left field bullpen fence for a two run home run. Ryan Welborn doubled to left field and then stole third. Brian Hanson laced a single to right center to score Welborn to make it 7-1.

In the bottom of the third, the Broncs got on the board. With one out, Marco Garza (Jr./Mission, Texas/Sharyland HS) singled to right center. With two outs, Garza was running as Matt Sisk (Sr./Fort Worth, Texas/Arlington Heights HS) drew a walk. The Oral Roberts catcher unexpectedly made a throw to second base which sailed into center field and Garza went to third. Sisk got caught in a rundown but avoided the tag long enough to allow Garza to score.

Texas-Pan American came up with a nice defensive play in the top of the seventh. Ricky Rivera led off with a single and Bigley drew a walk. Boomer Welles ripped a double down the left field line to score Rivera. Bigley attempted to score but Garza took the throw from Louie Alamia (So./Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg North HS) and threw a perfect strike to Matt Eichel (Jr./Grapevine, Texas/Grapevine HS) to get Bigley out at the plate.

Down 9-1, the Broncs began to make things happen in the bottom of the seventh inning. John Lopez (Jr./Mission, Texas/Mission HS) opened the inning with a single. Following a strike out, Alamia crushed a triple down the right field line to score Lopez. Garza drilled a shot off the pitcher and then slid into first for a base hit. Tony Ortiz (Jr./Fort Worth, Texas/Nolan HS) hit shot to left center that scored Alamia and moved Garza to third. Sisk lined a single through the left side to score Garza and move Ortiz to second. A fielder's choice and a strike out ended the inning with ORU up, 9-4.

The Golden Eagles attempted to get those runs back in the eighth inning. A single and error put Hanson on second and Grant Plumley on first. Aaron Guerra (So./Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg HS) got Josh Lex to hit into a double play and then struck out Rivera to end the inning.

The Broncs came out fighting in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Lopez singled to third base. Following a foul out, Alamia hit a shot that struck the umpire for a single. Garza then singled to third base to load the bases. Ortiz drew a walk to move Lopez across the plate. Sisk hit a grounder that squirted through the second baseman's glove to score Alamia. The Golden Eagles got a ground out to end the inning.

Texas-Pan American did not go quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Ben DiOrio (Sr./Canon City, Colo./Seward County CC) opened the inning with a single. A wild pitch and a passed ball moved DiOrio to third. The pitcher mishandled a grounder from Lopez that scored DiOrio. T.J. Gilmer (So./Forney, Texas/Forney HS) drew a walk and a passed ball moved Lopez to third and Gilmer to second. Following a ground out, Garza lined a shot past the third baseman with the runners going. Lopez and Gilmer both scored to tie the game at 9-9. Ortiz crushed a double to right center to advance Garza to third. A fly out ended the inning.

The Broncs made things interesting in the bottom of the 12th. Following a strike out, the Broncs got a walk from DiOrio and singles by Jarod Hickle (So./LaGrange, Texas/LaGrange HS) and Lopez to load the bases. ORU got a fielder's choice and a strike out to keep the game tied.

In the top of the 13th,a pitch hit Matt VanDerBosch and Hanson singled to right field. A sacrifice bunt moved VanDerBosch to third and Hanson to second. Lex then singled to right center to score VanDerBosch and move Hanson to third. A sacrifice fly scored Hanson and moved Lex to second. Following an intentional walk, a single by Welles pushed Lex across the plate. A foul out to Ortiz ended the inning.

In the bottom of the 13th, Garza led off with a double to right center and moved to second on a ground out. Sisk hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that allowed Garza to score. A strike out ended the game.

For UTPA, Garza was 7-for-8, scored three runs and drove in two runs, Alamia was 4-for-8, scored two runs and drove in one run and Lopez was 4-for-6 and scored three runs. Garza set the new single-game UTPA record for hits with seven. That broke the old mark of six by Marty Green back in 1980. Garza finished the night with five consecutive hits. Alamia extended his reaching base safely streak to 38 games. Guerra gave up five hits, three runs and struck out five batters in six innings as he fell to 0-4.

For ORU, Hanson was 4-for-6, Welles was 3-for-6, scored two runs and drove in three runs and Wellborn was 4-for-5 and scored two runs. Justin Ramsey gave up seven hits, one run and struck out five in four and one-third innings to move to 2-0.

"We just didn't execute when we needed to." Said head coach Willie Gawlik. "We had our chances to win the game from the ninth inning on and we just didn't get the job done. Aaron threw a good game tonight. He was the one that kept us in the game and gave us our chances to win."

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