March 7, 2009

It was perfect weather for some baseball in Corpus Christi, Texas but it wasn't enough for the Broncs to hold off the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders as UTPA (0-11) suffered a 12-7 setback this Saturday (Mar. 7) afternoon at Whataburger Field.

"Our offense was good and so was our hitting; pitching just needs to improve and we can get that W," said head coach Manny Mantrana.

The Broncs got off to an early start as they put up one run in the first as Garrett Bivone grounded out to the second baseman allowing shortstop Andrew Perez to score.

UTPA then gave up 11 runs in three frames giving the Islanders an 11-4 lead. The Broncs posted their second run in the bottom of the fourth as Ryan Vest grounded out to the shortstop allowing designated hitter Jordan Rutenbar to score.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Broncs came back with a two-run homerun by Jordan Rutenbar as he drove in Garret Bivone; Donaho closed out the inning as he flew out to the catcher.

The Broncs lit up some fire in the ninth as Andrew Perez doubled down the leftfield line bringing in Jose Mendoza to make the score 12-5. Junior college transfer Jose Salmon then homered to right field brining in Andrew Perez to wrap-up the game, 12-7.

Jordan Rutenbar, Billy Donaho and Iradier Hernandez all finished 2-for-4 with Rutenbar driving in two runs while bringing in two runs of his own and Hernandez added a double. Shortstop Andrew Perez finished the evening 2-for-5 while driving in one run and recording two runs.

The Broncs will conclude the Whataburger College Classic on Sunday as they return to Whataburger Field and face TAMUCC at 1:00 p.m. CT.

UTPA Sports Information