March 16, 2006
The University of Texas-Pan American baseball team committed five errors in the first game of a four-game series against the University of Arkansas - Little Rock on Thursday (Mar. 16) in Little Rock, AR, falling to the Trojans, 12-9.
UALR opened up the scoring in the second inning when Matt Garlington doubled to center field, driving in two runs. The Trojans added one more in the inning to take a 3-0 lead. The Broncs answered right away as Louie Alamia (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg North H.S.) singled up the middle to drive in Jason Buhagiar (Penngrove, CA/Santa Rosa J.C.) and Leighton Autrey (Stephenville, TX/Navarro J.C.). Two batters later, Blake Whittlesey (Marble Falls, TX/UT-Brownsville) drove a double down the right field line, scoring Osiel Flores (Mission, TX/UT-Brownsville) from first. Whittlesey scored later in the inning on a double-steal.
With a 4-3 lead in the fourth, UTPA kept the offense working, T.J. Gilmer (Forney, TX/Forney H.S.) smacked an RBI double in to the left field corner to scored Buhagiar. In the top of the fifth, Patrick Brooks (Vallejo, CA/Santa Rosa J.C.) and Abraham Garcia (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial H.S.) led off the inning with back-to-back doubles, scoring Brooks. Garcia scored shortly after on a Buhagiar single to give UTPA a 7-3 lead.
The Trojans then collected five hits and made use of one Bronc error in the fifth to put four runs on the board and tie the game at seven a piece. UTPA put two runs on the board in seventh as Gilmer drove in Brady Honeycutt (Rosebud, TX/Rosebud-Lott H.S.) with a ground ball to second base. Alamia then lined a single in to center field to score Autrey and give the Broncs a 9-7 lead.
The Bronc defense fell apart in the eighth inning as they allowed five runs on four hits and three errors. All of the Trojan runs crossed the plate with two outs on the scoreboard and were all unearned.
UTPA starter Aaron Guerra (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg H.S.) pitched 7.2 innings, allowing 10 runs, six of them earned, on 13 hits. Guerra struck out three and walked three as his record falls to 1-4 with the loss. It took three Bronc relievers to record the final out of the eighth inning with Chris Lozano (El Paso, TX/Phoenix J.C.) finishing the game for the Broncs.
At the plate, the Broncs out-hit the Trojans 19 to 16. UTPA, however, left 13 runners on base throughout the game.
Seven UTPA hitters finished with multi-hit games. Brooks, Garcia and Buhagiar all collected three hits on the night, combining to drive in two runs and score four. Alamia led the team with three runs batted in, driving in three with two hits in five at-bats.
The Broncs record now stands at 11-14 while Arkansas - Little Rock improved its record to 14-9.
The Broncs and Trojans face off in a double-header on Friday (Mar. 17) in Little Rock with the first game beginning at 2:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
