Scorpions Show Spirit in Tough 3-1 Loss to Nationally Ranked TWU
Posted April 29, 2008
The No. 1 seed in the tournament and 19th-ranked team in the country, Texas Wesleyan University, figured to have an easy time against the tournament's lowest seed, the UTB/TSC Scorpions, in the Red River Athletic Baseball Championship Tournament.

But the Scorpions hung much tougher than a lot of people anticipated, and dropped a 3-1 decision to the Rams at Scorpion Field Tuesday, April 29, at Scorpion Field.

Julian Moya (8-6) pitched a nine-inning complete game, striking out seven and walking two. He scattered eight hits. Moya, who threw 112 pitches, is the workhorse of the RRAC. Counting Tuesday's game, he has thrown exactly 100 innings this year.

"When people haven't seen Julian pitch, they don't realize how special he is," Scorpion head coach Joel Barta said. "He gave us a chance to win and what more could you ask."

The Scorpions (22-31) now face South Zone rival Wiley College (19-20) in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, at Scorpion Field. Expected to start Wednesday's game for the Scorpions against Wiley is Tony Lerma (6-4). The game will be audio and video webcast through http://athletics.utb.edu

Texas Wesleyan (38-12) meets Huston-Tillotson University at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The Scorpions matched TWU's hits with eight, with Jacob Yousif and Ignacio Celedon getting two each.

TWU took a 2-0 lead in the third inning before the Scorpions cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. The Rams' single run in the fifth inning was the final run of the night.

The lone Scorpion run came when Celedon tripled to right-center and scored on a ground out by Andres Monterrubio.

It's the first time the Scorpions have qualified for the post-season since the 2000 season, when UTB/TSC qualified for the Texas Junior College Athletic Conference tournament. Prior to that, the Scorpions had not qualified for the postseason since 1977, when they advanced all the way to the NJCAA National World Series.

All games in the tournament will be webcast through DakStats, which offers a GameCenter format. Internet users can track every pitch and every statistic in the game. All Scorpion games will also have an audio and video webcast. The Friday championship games will also be audio and video webcast.

Links for all tournament games will be posted and updated at athletics.utb.edu.