HOUSTON, Texas – The University of Texas Pan American baseball team split the four-game series with the Houston Baptist University Huskies after a 12-9 loss in the finale on Sunday afternoon at Husky Field.

 

The Broncs (19-19, 8-8) the scoring started in the top of the second inning. Angel Ibanez led off with a double down the left field line and Vincent Mejia followed with a walk. After a sacrifice bunt by Roger Bernal, Iradier Hernandez hit an RBI single to left field that allowed Ibanez to score. Stuart MacInnes then an RBI single that scored Mejia from third giving UTPA the 2-0 lead.

 

The Huskies (12-31, 10-6) wasted no time getting on the score board. Kolby Arnst led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run. After a one-out walk to Garret Tully, he moved to second after a ground out to the pitcher off the bat of Ryan Bacak. Asai Adame followed with an RBI single to left field scoring Tully from second to tie the game at two. With runners at first and second, Collin Hetzler hit a double to center field driving in two more runs for HBU. Robbie Buller followed with a single to left scoring Hetzler from second giving the Huskies the 5-2 advantage. 

 

After a scoreless third inning, the Broncs added a run in the top of the fourth. Mejia started things off with a single to left field and then moved to second on a wild pitch. One batter later, Hernandez hit a two-out RBI single to left field that scored Mejia making it 5-3 HBU.

 

The Broncs tied the game in the top of the fifth with a couple of runs in the inning. Mike McCarthy reached on a one-out walk and then came around to score on an RBI double by Ibanez. After Mejia was hit by a pitch from Kyle Dickerson, Bernal hit an RBI single to center field scoring Ibanez from second tying the game at five.

 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Huskies regained the lead when Beau Warren hit a two-run double that allowed Arnst and Jake Gonzalez to score giving the Huskies the 7-5 edge.

 

McCarthy added to his team leading RBI total with an RBI single in the top of the sixth which scored Alex Carnall from second cutting HBU's lead 7-6. McCarthy now has 33 RBIs on the season. 

 

A two-run triple by Hetzler in the bottom of the sixth pushed the lead back to three runs for the Huskies. Hetzler then came into score on an RBI fielder's choice which made the score 10-6.

 

The Huskies got some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when Gonzalez hit a two-run double pushing HBU's lead to 12-6.

 

UTPA rallied with RBI singles by Mejia and Bernal in the top of the ninth against Kobie Hajdik. A fielding error allowed Mejia to score from second. The tying run came to the plate but Hajdik got the final out of the inning giving the Huskies the 12-9 victory. 

 

Dickerson (3-0) picked up the win after allowing six runs and striking out four in six innings on the mound. Hajdik picked up his fourth save of the season despite allowing three runs in the top of the ninth. Cody Plunk (1-5) got the loss after he allowed five runs in five innings for UTPA.

 

Texas Pan-American heads home for a four-game weekend series against Utah Valley University which begins Friday night at Edinburg Baseball Stadium with the first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Friday's game will be followed by a double-header Saturday and the finale coming on Sunday afternoon.