April 9, 2004

Box Score

Edinburg, Texas - Texas-Pan American (15-23) suffered the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory in its doubleheader against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders came from behind to win the opener, 7-6. The Broncs caught on fire to win the nightcap, 11-3 to snap a nine-game losing streak. UTPA is back in action on April 13 with a doubleheader against Texas-San Antonio. The first game is scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m.

In Game One, Texas-Pan American hit the Islanders hard in the first inning. Louie Alamia (So./Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg North HS) led off with a double down the right field line. T.J. Gilmer (So./Forney, Texas/Forney HS) singled past the third baseman to score Alamia. Gilmer stole second and then scored on a single to right field by Marco Garza (Jr./Mission, Texas/Sharyland HS). Ryan Grimet (Fr./Pearland, Texas/Pearland HS) singled to left field to move Garza to second. A passed ball moved Garza to third and saw Grimet get thrown out at second. Ben DiOrio (Sr./Canon City, Colo./Seward County CC) drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Matt Eichel (Jr./Grapevine, Texas/Grapevine HS) singled through the right side to score Garza and move DiOrio to second. Aaron Flowers (Jr./Rowlett, Texas/Northeast Texas CC) singled to score DiOrio to make it 4-0.

In the fifth inning, Gilmer led off with a single to right field. Gilmer stole second and scored on a single up the middle by Tony Ortiz (Jr./Fort Worth, Texas/Nolan HS). The Islanders made a comeback in the sixth inning. With one out, Josh Hulin doubled to left field and a pitch hit Jose Rodriguez. James Garner singled down the left field line to score Hulin and move Rodriguez to second. Bobby Mora was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Robert Sedillo, whose grounder was misplayed, allowing Rodriguez to score. Casey Buaas singled through the right side to score Garner and Mora and put Sedillo at third. A fielder's choice scored Sedillo to tie the game at 5-5.

In the seventh inning, with one out, Hulin reached on an error. Rodriguez singled up the middle to move Hulin to second. Garner ripped a double to left field to score Hulin and move Rodriguez to third. Mora then singled past the third base to score Rodriguez to make it 7-5. In the bottom of the seventh for UTPA, Ortiz led off with a triple to right center field. Garza grounded out to the shortstop to score Ortiz.

For UTPA, Ortiz was 3-for-5, had a double and a triple, scored a run and drove in a run, Flowers was 3-for-4 and Gilmer was 2-for-5, scored two runs and drove in one. Juan Saenz (Jr./Mission, Texas/Mission HS) had a good performance giving up six hits, five runs, only one earned run and struck out seven batters in five and one-third innings. Chad Linder (Fr./Reklaw, Texas/Rusk HS) gave up two hits and two runs in one inning to fall to 1-2.

For TAMCC, Garner was 2-for-5 and drove in two runs, Buaas was 2-for-5 and drove in two runs and Mora was 2-for-4. Jorge Huerta gave up two hits and one run in three and one-third innings to improve to 4-5.

"This was a tough loss for us," said Head Coach Willie Gawlik. "We were up 5-0 and couldn't hold it. I thought Juan pitched a fine game. The bottom line was our defense didn't make the plays when we needed them."

In Game Two, all was quiet until the bottom of the third. Ricky Broyles (Jr./Longview, Texas/Northeast Texas CC) led off with a single down the left field line. Alfred Padron (Jr./Pasadena, Texas/Alvin CC) singled through the left side to move Broyles to second. A sacrifice bunt moved Broyles to third and Padron to second. Flowers singled past third base to move Broyles across the plate and Padron to third. Flowers stole second and a walk to Ortiz loaded the bases. Following a fly out, Mark Rodriguez (Jr./San Antonio, Texas/Howard College) singled through the left side to score Padron. Matt Sisk (Sr./Fort Worth, Texas/Arlington Heights HS) took the second pitch down the left field line and over the fence for a grand slam home run to make it 6-0.

In the fourth inning, with one out, Flowers ripped a double down the left field line. Following a line out, Garza singled to right field to score Flowers. The Broncs would add four runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Islanders broke up the shut out bid by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh.

For UTPA, Flowers was 3-for-4, scored three runs and drove in one run, Broyles was 3-for-4 and scored two runs and Sisk had a grand slam home run. Phillip Rodriguez (Fr./Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg North HS) gave up 10 hits, three runs and struck out two batters in six innings to improve to 1-0. He did throw six scoreless innings.

For TAMCC, Landin was 3-for-4 and Rodriguez was 2-4. Garcia gave up eight hits, seven runs and struck out one batter in three and two-third innings to fall to 4-4.

"We had a good all-around game," Said head coach Gawlik. "Phillip did a good job out there for us today. Corpus had 10 hits off of him, but he battled back and held them in check. The big hit for us was the grand slam by Matt. With one swing of the bat, we go from up two runs to being up by six. That gave us breathing room and confidence. Our defense made the plays when we needed them to."