Roger Bernal + Angel Ibanez 5-22-12
Shane Truskolaski/UVU Athletics
Angel Ibanez (left) and Roger Bernal (right)

Baseball

Broncs Face North Dakota in Second Round of Great West Conference Tournament

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Game Notes

Bracket

OREM, Utah -- The second-seeded University of Texas-Pan American Broncs baseball team (30-20, 16-12 Great West Conference) face the sixth-seeded University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux (18-35, 10-18 GWC) in the second round of the Great West Conference Tournament, hosted by Utah Valley University, on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. CT at Brent Brown Ballpark.

What You Need to Know
  • The Broncs are 3-3 all-time in the Great West Conference Tournament, going 2-1 in 2010 and 0-2 last year.
  • Including their time in the American South Conference (1988-91), the Sun Belt (1992-98) and the Great West (2010-Present), the Broncs are 6-10 all-time in conference tournaments.
  • The Broncs were 1958 Co-Big State Conference Champions when they were still a part of the NAIA.
  • The Broncs have made 13 NCAA Tournament Appearances and one College World Series appearance.
  • Broncs head coach Manny Mantrana has led his teams to five conference championships.
  • This is the 14th meeting all-time between the Broncs and Fighting Sioux in a series dating back to 1966. The Broncs are 8-5 in that time, including a 7-5 record in Great West Conference play.
  • This is the Broncs' first game against the Fighting Sioux during the Great West Conference Tournament.
  • With 30 wins, the Broncs have their highest win total since 2000, when the Broncs won 31 games under Reggie Tredaway.
  • Roger Bernal is sixth in the NCAA in hitting with a .425 batting average. Utah Valley's Goose Kallunki is third at .433 and Chicago State's Albert Carpen is eighth at .412. The Great West Conference is the only conference that boasts three of the top eight hitters in the nation.
  • Roger Bernal is trying to become the fifth Bronc to ever hit .400 or better in a season. The last Bronc to do it was Garrett Blvone, who hit .428 in 2010, the second highest mark in program history.
  • Roger Bernal has hits in 44-of-49 games (89.8%), including 29 multi-hit games. He has had 18 two-hit games, nine three-hits games and three four-hit games.

NCAA Leaderboard

Individual Batting Average
  1. Ralph Rhymes, LSU, .469 (92-196)
  2. Danny Poma, Hofstra, .435 (97-223)
  3. Goose Kallunki, Utah Valley, .433 (94-217)
  4. Michael Felton, Campbell, .431 (100-232)
  5. Trenton Moses, Southeastern Mo. St., .426 (84-197)
  6. Roger Bernal, UTPA, .425 (90-212)
  7. D.J. Peterson, New Mexico, .422 (94-223)
  8. Albert Carpen, Chicago State, .412 (73-177)
  9. Thomas Brown, Grambling, .410 (71-173)
  10. Matt Honchel, Miami (OH), .401 (87-217)
  11. Adam McClain, Memphis, .400 (86-215)
  12. Patrick Kivlehan, Rutgers, .399 (73-183)
  13. Andrew Deeds, Morehead State, .399 (85-213)
  14. Jayce Boyd, Florida State, .399 (83-208)

Last Time Out

#2 Broncs vs. #7 Chicago State University Cougars (5/22/12)
  • The Broncs opened up the Great West Conference Tournament with a 10-4 victory over the Cougars.
  • The Broncs scored their first five runs with two outs in four different innings and their last five with one out in the seventh.
  • Angel Ibanez hit his third home run of the season and second in the last five games.
  • The Broncs used the exact same lineup they did in the previous game, giving that lineup an average of 10.5 runs per game.
  • Jonathan Sa didn't allow an earned run after the first inning, striking out five in six innings.

Season Series vs. North Dakota

Broncs vs. University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux (4/15/12)
  • The Broncs completed the four-game sweep of the Fighting Sioux with a 14-8 victory.
  • It was the Broncs' fourth season series sweep of the season.
  • The Broncs were off to their best-ever start in Great West Conferece play at 8-0.
  • The Broncs are now 17-1 at home.
  • The Broncs scored first for the first time in the series, but needed to come from behind for the fourth-straight game, scoring nine runs over the final two innings to win.
  • The Broncs pounded out 19 hits for the second time this season.
  • Derek Hagy recorded his fourth-straight multi-hit game, and third three-hit game of the series, going 3-for-5 with a double, three RBI and three runs scored. He went 11-for-17 (.647) with eight RBI and seven runs scored in four games.
  • Roger Bernal recorded his third four-hit game of the season, going 4-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored.
  • Angel Ibanez doubled for the third-straight game after having only one double through the first 24 games of the season. He finished 2-for-6 with two RBI and one run scored.
  • Brandon Roush came up with a pinch-hit RBI-single in the seventh and is now 3-for-3 as a pinch-hitter this season.
  • Zach Zoualik recorded his sixth win out of the bullpen with 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball. Zouzalik was then tied for the conference lead in wins with Utah Valley starting pitcher Jeremy Gendlek.
 
Broncs vs. University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux (2) (4/14/12)
  • The Broncs completed their fifth doubleheader sweep of the season with a 10-5 victory.
  • Dusten Knight racked up a career-high nine strikeouts in seven innings while allowing a run on two hits. He did not allow a hit over his final six innings of work.
  • Vincent Mejia hit his team-leading fifth home run, a three-run shot in the third inning that gave the Broncs the lead for good.
  • Derek Hagy recorded his third-straight multi-hit game, going 3-for-4. He is 8-for-12 (.750) with four runs scored and five RBI over that span.
 
Broncs vs. University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux (1) (4/14/12)
  • Down 5-0 after five and a half innings, the Broncs scored six runs in the sixth to come from behind to win for the second-straight game, 6-5.
  • Austin Casas picked up his first win of the season by recording the final out of the sixth.
  • The Broncs only had two hits during their six-run sixth inning, taking advantage of two walks and two errors to take the lead.
  • This marked the first game day since March 25 that Roger Bernal was not the either first or tied for first in the NCAA in hitting. He entered the game in fourth.
 
Broncs vs. University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux (4/13/12)
  • The Broncs used a 10-run seventh inning to come from behind to beat the Fighting Sioux 14-8.
  • The Broncs sent nine batters to the plate and scored seven runs and six hits and three walks during the seventh inning before recording an out. In total, 14 batters came to the plate as the Broncs got 10 runs (nine earned) on eight hits, three walks, a sacrifice fly and a passed ball. It was the Broncs' biggest inning of the season. The Broncs were trailing 7-3 entering that inning.
  • The Broncs have now reached double-figures in scoring in 11-of-24 games (45.8%).
  • The Broncs drew three bases loaded walks. Overall they walked nine time.
  • Chris Torres, who had been 2-for-15 over his last five games, went 4-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and a career-high tying three runs scored.
  • Derek Hagy, who had been 2-for-18 over his last four games, went 3-for-5 with a walk, a career-high four RBI and one run scored.

Next Up

The winner of this game will face the winner of the game between top-seeded and 27th ranked Utah Valley or fifth-seeded Houston Baptist on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The loser will face the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Northern Colorado and eighth-seeded NYIT on Thursday at 12:00 p.m.
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