Box Score

Final Statistics

OREM, Utah – The second-seeded University of Texas-Pan American Broncs baseball team rallied back from a 10-5 deficit to take the lead in the eighth, but the fourth-seeded University of Northern Colorado Bears scored two in the eighth and two in the ninth to eliminate the Broncs from the Great West Conference Tournament, 14-13, on Thursday at Brent Brown Ballpark on the campus of Utah Valley University.
 
The Broncs (30-22) trailed 10-5 after five innings, but scored two in the sixth on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly to pull within three. That's where the score stayed until the eighth. With two on and one out, Mission-native Angel Ibanez beat out a grounder on a close play for an RBI infield-single. Vincent Mejia followed with a game-tying double off the top of the right-center field wall. Mike McCarthy then reached on an error that allowed Mejia to score. McCarthy went to second on the play, from where he scored on an RBI-single by Mission-native Iradier Hernandez. Hernandez moved to second on the throw home, allowing him to score on an RBI-single by pinch-hitter Brandon Roush to make it 13-10.
 
Mejia finished 2-for-3 with two walks, four RBI and three runs scored. He also hit a two-run home run, his seventh of the season, in the fifth inning.
 
The Bears (27-32) started their come back in the bottom of the inning. Casey Coy led off with a single, and then one out later, Colby Harrison walked and was pinch-run for by Taylor Anderson. After an error loaded the bases, Jensen Park hit an RBI-single to make it a two-run game. The Broncs then turned to Palmview-native Guadalupe Barrera (0-3) out of the bullpen, who allowed an RBI-fielder's choice to Tony Crudo but then escaped the inning with the 13-12 lead intact.
 
With one out in the ninth, Ryan Yamane and Coy hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third. Adam Hilker hit a liner off Barrera that Barrera was able to field and throw to second for the second out. Anderson came up next for his first at-bat of the game, and on an 0-1 count, hit a sinking liner into the right-center gap out of the reach of the diving Richard Bandrich that allowed Yamane and Hilker to score to end the game.
 
That made a winner of Chris Hammer (6-2), who recorded the final out of the ninth by striking out Roger Bernal. Hammer was the eighth pitcher used by the Bears.
 
Bernal finishes the season with a .414 batting average, making him the fifth Bronc to ever finish a season with an average of .400 or better. Bernal is the second to do it under head coach Manny Mantrana, with Garrett Blvone hitting .428 in 2010. Bernal's mark is the fourth highest average in a single season in program history.
 
The University of Texas-Pan American Department of Intercollegiate Athletics competes at the NCAA Division I classification. UTPA, formerly known as Pan American College and Pan American University, is a part of the University of Texas System of Schools. The Broncs compete in 14 varsity sports; men's and women's basketball, golf, tennis, track and field, and cross country, along with women's volleyball and men's baseball. In 1963, then known as Pan American College, the Broncs men's basketball program won the NAIA National Championship with a 73-62 victory over Western Carolina. In 2008 UTPA joined the new all-sports division of the Great West Conference.