Feb. 20, 2005
The University of Texas - Pan American baseball team handed 10th-ranked Arizona its first loss of the season in a 7-0 win at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium. UTPA's Dane Mason (Marlton, NJ/Oklahoma State) pitched the win in 8.0 innings where he struck out six batters while giving up eight hits in the contest.
The Broncs were led by the offensive performance of catcher Matt Eichel (Grapevine, TX/Grapevine H.S.), who went to work early with a two-run single in the bottom of the third inning to give the Broncs a 3-0 lead.
"Matt's first hit for us was good because it put us up early, and we were then able to build from that. I felt today was a game where he had real quality at-bats for us," stated head coach Willie Gawlik.
After a great defensive effort in the top of the fourth, including two of Mason's six strikeouts, the Broncs would go to work at-bat again scoring two more runs in the bottom of the fourth after Jacob Jones (Kress, TX/Texas Tech University) hit a two-run double to push the advantage to 5-0.
The Wildcats would continue to be shut down by the defensive efforts of the Broncs throughout the duration of the game as they went scoreless in the performance. The loss takes them to 9-1 on the season.
"We made on error against the first batter of the day, but after that our defense was solid. We were able to make all the plays we needed to make, our effort on the mound from Dane was outstanding, and we got key hits in scoring situations. Those are all the things we needed to do to get a win out of this tough match-up," said Gawlik.
The win on the mound for Mason would be his first taking him to 1-3 on the season. After taking a shot to the ribs on a line drive in the top of the second inning, Mason continued pitching through the pain and with the help of his defensive staff left the Wildcats without a run in the contest.
"We are really excited for Dane. He was hurting after taking that hit early, but was determined to continue pitching. He gave us eight amazing innings on the mound and then we were able to let Tim finish out the game for us," commented Gawlik.
Tim Haines (Mission, TX/Blinn College) would relieve Mason after eight innings and pitch one more strikeout to give the Broncs a total of seven in the performance.
In the bottom of the sixth, Eichel would break the game open with another two-run double to take the Broncs to 7-0 headed into the seventh inning.
"His first hit was huge getting us the lead, but the second was probably more important because it really pushed us ahead going into those late innings of the game. He really took advantage of his opportunities at-bat," commented Gawlik.
Eichel would finish the game with two hits and a team-high four RBI in the victory. He was one of five UTPA batters to have multiple hits in the game.
"This is an exciting victory for our school and for our program. The guys really played hard. These are the game that pay off for us when we play tough schedules year after year," concluded Gawlik.
The win over the Wildcats takes the Broncs to 3-9 on the season. The Broncs will be back in action for a three game series against UT-Arlington next weekend (Feb. 25-27) in Arlington, TX.
UTPA Sports Information
