Feb. 24, 2006

Box Score

The University of Texas-Pan American baseball dropped its first game of a three-game series against the Sam Houston State Bearkats, 5-3, on Friday (Feb. 24) in Huntsville, TX.

The Bearkats jumped on Bronc starter Ricky Ibarz (Caracas, Venezuela/New Mexico Junior College) early, scoring one run in the first inning on a Karl Krailo single up the middle that brought Gregory O'Neill across the plate.

SHSU added two more runs in the bottom of the second inning, thanks to an Ibarz balk that plated Aaron Cook and was immediately followed by an RBI single off the bat of Tyson Mire. The Bearkats added one more run off Ibarz in the third when Dustin Martin put his team ahead 4-0 with a solo home run.

UTPA did not get on the board until the top of the seventh inning when Otis Powers (Brownsville, TX/Simon Rivera H.S.) and Ruben Shives, Jr. (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg H.S.) crossed home on an error by the shortstop O'Neill on a ball hit by Leighton Autrey (Stephenville, TX/Navarro J.C.).

In the bottom of the eighth, Ray Silva (Clearlake, CA/Santa Rosa J.C.) hit Jeremy Holzbach with a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home the Bearkats' fifth run. The Broncs then managed to score one more run in the ninth when Louie Alamia (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg North H.S.) earned an RBI by walking with the bases loaded, scoring Patrick Brooks (Vallejo, CA/Santa Rosa J.C.) and bringing the score to 5-3.

Ibarz went six innings in the loss, allowing four runs, three of them earned, on six hits. The Bronc southpaw struck out six while walking three and also was charged with two balks. His record on the season falls to 1-2.

Kelly Casares (Missouri City, TX/McLennan J.C.) pitched 1.2 innings in relief and allowed zero hits and one unearned run. Tim Haines (Mission, TX/Blinn College) recorded the final out of the game, striking out the only batter he faced.

Six different Bronc hitters collected one hit a piece. Alamia was 1-4 on the night with one RBI and one walk. Autrey was credited with two runs batted in from his 1-4 night at the plate.

Tim Gray earned the victory for the Bearkats and improved his season record to 2-0. Stephen Price recorded the final out of the game and earned his first save of the season.

UTPA's record falls to 4-8 on the season while Sam Houston State improves to 5-3. The two teams meet against on Saturday (Feb. 25) at 3:00 p.m. in Huntsville, TX for the middle game of their three-game series.

UTPA Sports Information