March 21, 2008

The University of Texas-Pan American baseball team concluded their two-game series with Houston Baptist this afternoon with a 3-2 victory at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium.

With the victory, the Broncs improved to 7-12 overall while the Huskies fell to 11-12 on the season.

The Broncs bucked first in the bottom of the second inning when Billy Donaho singled to left field and advanced to second on a Ryan Vest single to right field and later scored on a Andrew Perez single to center field to put UTPA up 1-0.

After a scoreless inning, the Broncs produced a run off of two hits in the bottom fourth after Jordan Rutenbar led things off with a double to right center and scored on a Ryan Vest single to left field, making the game 2-0.

The Huskies threatened in the top of the sixth when David Mark got on board with a single to right field and advanced to second on a single by Richard Orange but the Broncs were able to close out the inning with a four-six-three double play.

The Broncs picked up a run on two hits, including a sacrifice fly to center field courtesy of Bonhan Hough that drove in UTPA's third run of the game.

Houston Baptist would test the Broncs in the seventh, when Bronc hurler A.J. Franco issued a six pitch walk to Leo Delgado and would score on a two RBI homerun by Greg Gossett to make the score 3-2.

Evan Cunningham would replace Franco in eighth inning and pounded the Huskies batters to give the Broncs their seventh victory of the season.

Offensively the Broncs were led by Rutenbar who finished the game 2-for-3 to go with two runs scored. Donaho and Vest each collected multi-hit performances for the Broncs.

UTPA Bronc hurler, Franco improved his overall record to 3-1, pitching seven innings, allowing seven hits while striking out six batters. For the Huskies, the loss goes to Sean McLemore who pitched six innings, allowing nine hits - three earned.

The Huskies were led by Gossett who went 2-for-3 to go with one run scored.

The Broncs will prepare for a seven game road trip with their first stop in Beaumont, TX where they will match-up in a double header against Lamar University on Tuesday (Mar. 25) at 3 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information