UTB/TSC Scorpions News
Matt Warner gets congratulations after home run
Matt Warner gets congratulations after home run
Baseball - 8:10 p.m. Tuesday, May 4, 2010
FORT WORTH -- Tuesday was the biggest day ever in the history of Scorpion baseball since joining the NAIA.
 
There will likely will be bigger days in the future.
 
UTB/TSC beat Bacone College, 10-5, and Texas Wesleyan University, 8-4, Tuesday at LaGrave Field to set up a Red River Athletic Conference championship game advanced with TWU at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
 
UTB/TSC, the surprise team in the RRAC Tournament, had to win both elimination games to survive. With a strong pitching performance by Daniel "Trey" Garcia, they did just that in the 1 p.m. game over Bacone, 10-5.
 
Then with reliever Jesus Mendoza on the mound, the Scorpions did it again, beating TWU for the first time ever in the postseason, 8-4.
 
The wins were historic.
 
UTB/TSC qualified for the NAIA National Baseball Championship Opening Round, and will play May 18-21 in either Lubbock, Oklahoma City (Okla.) or Jackson Miss. May 18-21.
 
The Scorpions also set a team record for most wins in a season during the NAIA era with 30. A 31st victory Wednesday would give the Scorpions the conference championship to match the titles won by the men's and women's soccer teams, and the women's volleyball team.
 
Offensively, the Scorpions had 16 hits in each game, including two homers by Matt Warner, one by Matt Ginn, and a 6-for-9 day by Jorge Camorlinga.
 
Scorpions 8, Texas Wesleyan University 4
Mendoza had not started a game on the mound since February. He became the exclusive Scorpion closer, and had pitched nine consecutive innings in relief without allowing a run.
 
He was called upon to start the fifth game of the tournament for the Scorpions, since teams need deep pitching staffs in tournament.
 
Mendoza did not have the prettiest of pitching lines. He went eight innings before running out of gas, throwing 123 pitches. He allowed eight hits, allowed three earned runs. He did not strike out a batter, and walked nine.
 
Kevin Chapman came in to pitch the ninth inning. He allowed two hits but stuffed any potential TWU rally.
 
The Scorpions scored in the top of the first, but TWU scored three times off Mendoza with only one hit to take a 3-1 lead. The Scorpions tied it in the third, 3-3, and took the lead for good in the middle innings.
 
Warner's two-run homer made it 7-3 in the sixth, and Ginn's 10th homer of the year made it 8-3 in the ninth.
 
Camorlinga and Warner each went 3-for-5 and scored twice. Ginn, Gilberto Puente and Miguel Garcia each had two hits.
 
Scorpions 10, Bacone College 5
Garcia was called upon to keep the Scorpion season alive in the opening day of the game for UTB/TSC. He threw the game of his life, going all nine innings and throwing 134 pitches. He allowed 10 hits, four earned runs, struck out three and walked three.
 
UTB/TSC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first and made it 5-0 in the third. A five-run fifth inning blew the game open, 10-2. Bacone scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Warner had his first homer of the day, and came within three feet of getting a second.
 
Camorlinga, Maldonado, and Brian Bustos each had three hits to pace the Scorpions' 16-hit attack. Warner and Robert Mariscal each had two hits.