Seattle University made more of its scoring opportunities count throughout the night, but needed to hold off a ninth-inning rally by Texas-Pan American to defeat the Broncs, 9-6, Friday night in a Western Athletic Conference baseball game at Edinburg Baseball Stadium.
Down 2-0 after three innings, Seattle U struck back in the top of the fourth inning, starting when Landon Cray (Chimacum, Wash.) drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, and came around to score on a single by Griffin Andreychuk (Nanaimo, B.C.). After a couple of ground balls put runners on second and third base with two outs, Brock Carpenter (Milton, Wash.) hit a grounder up the middle that could not be handled, allowing Sheldon Stober (Kent, Wash.) and Brian Olson (Black Diamond, Wash.) to score to give the Redhawks a 3-2 lead.
UTPA (11-12, 0-4 WAC) earned another scoring opportunity in the bottom of the fourth inning when Correy Davis hit a one-out triple, but Seattle U starter Will Dennis (Saratoga, Calif.) struck out the next two batters to strand Davis at third.
In the top of the fifth inning, Dalton Hurd (Bend, Ore.) led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Colin Peterson (Bellingham, Wash.), reached third on a single by Cray, and came in to score when Stober beat out a throw to first base in an attempt to complete an inning-ending double play.
Carpenter reached base on an infield single with one out in the sixth inning, stole second base, and advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt by UTPA starter Blake English. Hurd drew a walk and stole second base, and Peterson followed with a single to center field, driving in both runners to increase the Seattle U advantage to 6-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Broncs threatened to cut into the Redhawk lead when Scott Mercer reached on an error and Davis followed with a double to put runners on second and third with one out. Dennis once again worked out of the jam, fielding a comebacker and then earning a strikeout to keep UTPA off the scoreboard.
The Broncs kept battling, leading off the seventh inning with back-to-back singles by Cole Loncar and Jesus Garcia, plus a Redhawk error that allowed the runners to advance to second and third with no one out. Logan Landon sent a single through the left side of the infield to drive in Loncar, but Dennis struck out the next batter, and Olson cut down Landon attempting to steal second for a double play. Andreychuk made a nice play on a short grounder to end the Bronc threat with Seattle U maintaining the lead, 6-3.
The Redhawks answered in the top of the eighth inning, as Michael McCann (Vancouver, Wash.) drew a leadoff walk and Hurd followed with a bunt single. Peterson laid down a sacrifice bunt, and a throwing error by Bronc reliever Clayton Haltom allowed pinch runner Eric Koenig (Auburn, Wash.) to score. Cray drove in Hurd with a sacrifice fly, and Andreychuk laced a single to left-center field, allowing Peterson to come around and score.
Ky Dye (Everett, Wash.) came on in relief in the eighth inning, walked the leadoff batter and gave up a single, but a double play grounder helped him get out of the inning. He retired the first two batters in the ninth inning before allowing an infield single, hitting a batter, and giving up a single to load the bases.
Mercer sent a single into right field, scoring Landon and Michael Harrison, followed by a single by Davis that drove in Victor Garcia Jr. Hernandez represented the game-tying run as he came to the plate, but his grounder was corralled by Andreychuk, who stepped on second base for the final out that gave the Redhawks the opening game of the conference series.
Dennis picked up the victory, allowing 10 hits and three runs, two of them earned, in seven innings of work, plus he struck out five batters. English took the loss for the Broncs, giving up five hits, three walks, and six runs, three of them earned, in six innings.
Offensively for the Redhawks, Hurd went 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs scored, and a stolen base, while Andreychuk hit 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. Davis led the Broncs with a 4-for-4 performance, including a double and a triple, as UTPA outhit Seattle U, 15-7, but the home team stranded 11 runners on base and made five errors.
Seattle University (10-14, 3-1 WAC) continues the weekend set with UTPA Saturday, March 28, at 6 p.m. local time (4 p.m. Pacific time), followed by the third and final game of the series Sunday, March 29, with the start time moved up to 11 a.m. Central time to accommodate the Redhawks’ travel schedule.