March 6, 2010
Final Stats
The University of Texas-Pan American baseball program (4-3) suffered a 9-5 decision to the LA Tech Bulldogs (8-2) this Saturday (Mar. 6) afternoon at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium.
"We are leaving too many men on base; we have to come up with a time to hit and we didn't do it today," said head coach Manny Mantrana.
"All our pitchers did a great job today. Cody was outstanding on the mound and Wally (Barrera) did well. He let a couple balls get away from him but overall, our pitching was great today."
What looked like another slow start for the Broncs turned out to be a neck-to-neck game in the sixth. Both ball clubs scored runs in the first for the first tie of the game.
The Broncs then took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third as Alex Carnall scored on a triple to right byAngel Ibanez.
With the Broncs up by one, LA Tech came back in the top of the fifth and scored three runs on the Broncs. Louisiana Tech's Kyle Roliard, who pinch hit for Phillip Menou, scored on a RBI single to the left side; Ashton Hughes scored on a sacrifice fly to left; and Clint Stubbs scored on a RBI single to the left side.
Texas-Pan American was able to score in the bottom of the fifth to come within one of the Bulldogs as Carnall scored on a sacrifice fly to center to make the score 4-3.
The Bulldogs scored one more run in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 5-3 as LA Tech's Will Alvis scored on a RBI single to center.
The Broncs were back in the game in the sixth as the men scored two runs to tie the contest for the second time.
With catcher Alex San Juan on first and Jose Mendoza at the plate, San Juan advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt by the catcher to the second baseman. Mendoza then doubled to left center to drive in San Juan from second to score the Broncs first run of the sixth.
Two batters later and a runner on second (Mendoza), Abraham Garcia doubled, in his first at-bat, and drove in Mendoza to tie the score at five.
Thirteen innings in, the Bulldogs finally broke the silence as LA Tech scored three runs in the top of the 13th. With runners on second and third, Mark Threlkeld drove in Hughes and Dan Breazeale. In the next at-bat by Alex Williams, who won the game for the Bulldogs the day before, doubled to left and drove in Threlkeld from first to lead 9-5 and the ball game.
Offensively, the Broncs were led by Alex San Juan, who finished 3-for-4 with a single run, while Stuart MacInnes was 3-for-7 with a run. Freshman Guadalupe Barrera picked up his first loss of the season with two and one-third innings pitched as he gave up four runs on three hits and struck out two.
Louisiana Tech's closer, Caleb Dudley, notched his first win of the season in a season-high five and one-third innings pitched along with two strikeouts.
The Broncs wrap-up the weekend series with LA Tech tomorrow (Mar. 7) afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium.
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