March 16, 2007

Box Score

The University of Texas-Pan American baseball team ended its five-game winless skid in dramatic fashion when it defeated the University of Northern Colorado by a score of 5-4 on Friday (Mar. 16) at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium.

The Broncs used old fashioned baseball trickery to score the first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the first inning. With Patrick Brooks (Vallejo, CA/Santa Rosa J.C.) on first base and lead-off man Roly Gonzalez (Miami, FL/UNC-Greensboro) on third, the Broncs executed the double steal to perfection to make the score 1-0 as Gonzalez stole home, adding to his team-leading 13 steals.

After a scoreless second inning on both sides, the Bears answered with a run of their own in the top of the third frame after Cory Morales hit a double off the left field wall, bringing Jeff Horn home from first base to knot the game at one apiece.

Northern Colorado added to their run total in the top of the fifth inning, collecting two runs on three hits and one error while stranding just one runner on base before the Broncs retired the side. The Bears jumped out quick, producing the pair of runs on the first two batters up in the inning. An RBI triple off the bat of Horn plated Adam Symons to make the score 3-1.

The Bears widened the gap in the sixth frame, producing one run on two hits and one error. Following a throwing error that put Ray on third base, Horn picked up his second RBI of the game with a shot to right field that sent Ray home to go up by a 4-1 count.

After five scoreless innings, Brooks crushed his fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning, driving in Jonathon Hutcherson (Magnolia, TX/Magnolia H.S.) and Jeremy Johnson (League City, TX/Alvin Junior College) with two outs on the board to give the Broncs a 5-4 lead. The senior third baseman leads the team with 21 RBI sharing the lead with Gonzalez for most multi-RBI games with five.

Osiel Flores (Mission, TX/UT-Brownsville) made the move from catcher to pitcher in the ninth and final inning of the game, and recorded the final three outs for UTPA, including two strikeouts to earn his second save of the season.

Ray Silva (Clearlake, CA/Santa Rosa J.C.) picked up his first win of the season (1-0) for his brief stint on the mound while Eric Maydew receives the loss for giving up the game-winning homer. The Broncs improved to 10-18 on the season thanks to the heroics of the savvy veteran Brooks while the Bears drop to 5-8.

The Broncs return to action on Saturday (Mar. 16) when they take part in game two of a three-game series against Northern Colorado at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium in Edinburg, TX.

UTPA Sports Information