March 14, 2006

Box Score

The University of Texas-Pan American baseball team won the first game of the afternoon against Prairie View A&M 7-0 and then lost game two by a score of 5-4 on Tuesday (Mar. 14) in Prairie View, TX.

In game one, the Broncs rode the pitching of Ricky Ibarz (Caracas, Venezuela/New Mexico J.C.) to the victory as Ibarz went seven innings, allowing just five hits while striking out 10 and walking five. The win improved the southpaw's record to 2-3 on the season and ups his strikeout total to 52, tops among NCAA Division I Independent pitchers. Kelly Casares (Missouri City, TX/McLennan J.C.) pitched the final two innings, giving up two hits and striking out three Panthers hitters.

UTPA jumped on top immediately as Louie Alamia (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg North H.S.) led off with a single. Two batters later, Osiel Flores (Mission, TX/UT-Brownsville) hit his first home run of the season to give the Broncs the 2-0 lead. UTPA added another run in the second on back-to-back doubles by Abraham Garcia (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial H.S.) and Leighton Autrey (Stephenville, TX/Navarro J.C.) to increase the lead to three.

In the fifth, the Broncs doubled their lead with three runs on three hits. All three hits in the inning were RBI singles off the bats of Flores, Patrick Brooks (Vallejo, CA/Santa Rosa J.C.) and Lyndon Bartosh (Bay City, TX/Navarro J.C.). UTPA scored its last run in the top of the eighth when Alamia singled in Garcia.

Garcia finished the game 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. Alamia reached base in all five of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 while walking once and getting hit by two pitches. He scored two runs and drove in one. Flores drove in three and scored two in collecting two hits in the game.

The second game, a seven-inning affair, again saw the Broncs jump on top early when Joshua Talley (Great Falls, MT/New Mexico J.C.) grounded out to shortstop to drive in the first run of the game. Later in the inning, Otis Powers (Brownsville, TX/Simon Rivera H.S.) and Autrey connected on back-to-back doubles to score Powers and give the Broncs a 2-0 lead. UTPA increased the lead to 3-0 in the fourth when Alamia doubled in Autrey from first base.

The Panthers got on the board for the first time in 14 innings in the fifth when they touched Bronc starter Ryne Foster (Cedar Park, TX/Cedar Park H.S.) for four runs on four hits. UTPA then tied it up in the sixth when Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Autrey. The Broncs gave up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth when Tim Haines (Mission, TX/Blinn College) walked in the winning run with two outs in the inning.

Autrey finished the second game 2-for-2, scoring two runs and driving in one. Alamia was 2-for-4 with one run batted in.

Alex Guajardo took the loss for the Broncs and his record now sits at 0-1 for the season. With the split, the Broncs' record is now 10-13.

The Broncs and Panthers conclude their three-game series on Wednesday (Mar. 15) in Prairie View, TX with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information