Scorpion second baseman Scott Price turns double play

Scorpions Eliminate Wiley, 7-2, to Stay Alive in RRAC Championship Tournament
Posted April 30, 2008
UTB/TSC did not want to end its season without a win Wednesday, April 30, in the Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament, and pulled off a come-from-behind win to stay alive.

The Scorpions scored six runs in its final three innings for a 7-2 victory over Wiley College, eliminating the Wildcats from the tournament.

UTB/TSC (23-31) advances as one of the final four teams in the tournament, and will host Bacone College (41-12) at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 1, at Scorpion Field in another elimination game.

If the Scorpions defeat Bacone, they will play again at 6 p.m. Thursday against the loser of the 2 p.m. game between Texas Wesleyan University and Northwood University. The tournament championship will be decided Friday.

Zach Moya is expected to start for the Scorpions against Bacone, which defeated the Scorpions very early in the season in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

With the elimination of Wiley and Huston-Tillotson University Wednesday, the Scorpions are the only South Zone team left in the tournament.

Once again, Scorpion starting pitching did a masterful job in the tournament. In the tournament opener against Texas Wesleyan Tuesday, Julian Moya went the distance, going nine innings in a 3-1 loss.

This time, it was junior lefthander Tony Lerma Jr., who went eight innings, throwing exactly 100 pitches. Lerma (7-5) allowed nine hits, struck out three and walked two. Jesse Galvan picked up the save, striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth.

Heads-up baserunning by the Scorpions was a big part of the victory, typified in the first inning. Robby Mang, starting for Jorge Camorlinga who had a final exam, walked and advanced to second and third on passed balls. Andres Monterrubio walked, and darted for second base when he noticed that the Wildcats were not covering the base.

Wiley tried unsuccessfully to make a play on Monterrubio, and Mang darted home ahead of a throw to the plate for a 1-0 Scorpion lead.

Wiley picked up single runs in the third and fifth to take a 2-1 lead before the Scorpions got serious again. Tyler O'Neal doubled in two runs to put the Scorpions on top, 3-2, and O'Neal later scored to make it 4-2.

In the seventh, O'Neal did more damage, slapping a two-run triple down the right-field line to make it 6-2.

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.