? Louisiana-Lafayette/Army box score
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| Junior Lance Brown broke up the no-hit bid with his two-out, RBI double to left on Friday night. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Oral Roberts starting pitcher Mark Serrano held UTSA hitless for 7.2 innings and the 40th-ranked Golden Eagles withstood a late Roadrunners rally to hold on for a 5-3 victory on Friday night in the third game of the UTSA Baseball Classic at Wolff Stadium.
Serrano gave Oral Roberts (2-0) one of its top early season pitching performances in school history. The 6-foot-1 right-hander, who struck out four and walked three, kept UTSA's bats off balance all night and went into the eighth inning with a no-hitter intact.
Senior catcher Zach Etheredge led off the frame with a grounder to short, the 12th ground out induced by Serrano (1-0) on the night, and sophomore third baseman Ryan Rummel followed with a fly ball to left field. After junior right fielder Aaron Powell drew a full-count walk, junior shortstop Lance Brown hit a sinking liner to left that glanced off the glove of a diving Ryan Groth. That not only broke up the no-hitter, but it also ended Serrano's shutout bid and sent him to the showers.
Southpaw Brett Carroll was called in from the bullpen and he ended the threat when freshman pinch hitter Ryan Hutson flied out to left to end the inning.
UTSA then began its rally in earnest against right-hander Dale Reneau in the ninth.
After junior second baseman James Keithley flew out to lead off the stanza, sophomore designated hitter Tim Palincsar and junior left fielder Jose Hernandez followed with back-to-back base hits to put runners on the corners with just one down. Senior first baseman Trent Lockwood then stroked a single through the right side to plate Palincsar and pull the Roadrunners within three at 5-2. Reneau got Etheredge to fly out to right for the second out and Hernandez tagged up to again put runners on the corners. Rummell followed with a liner to center that cut the deficit to two.
ORU head coach Rob Walton then brought in righty Carlos Luna to face Powell. The Midland native fell into an early 1-2 hole but was able to work the count full before striking out to end the season-opening contest for the Roadrunners.
The Golden Eagles, who defeated Army, 9-1, in the day's previous game, jumped out to 5-0 lead with single runs in the first, second and sixth innings and a pair in the fifth.
Senior righty Steven Vasquez ? making his first start since April 21, 2006 ? picked up the loss after allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits in 4.1 innings. Vasquez also walked three and struck out a pair in the 84-pitch effort. Senior Mark Ruffin held ORU to just one run on a pair of hits and fanned five over the final 4.2 frames.
Kelly Minissale led the Oral Roberts offense with a pair of hits and a run scored.
UTSA plays Army, which dropped both its games on Friday, at 6 p.m. on Saturday in the classic's sixth contest.
2008 UTSA Baseball Classic
Day 1 Scoreboard (Feb. 22)
#19 Louisiana-Lafayette 2, Army 1
#40 Oral Roberts 9, Army 1
#40 Oral Roberts 5, UTSA 3
Day 2 Schedule (Feb. 23)
(home team listed second)
Texas Tech (0-0) vs. #19 Louisiana-Lafayette (1-0), 10 a.m.
#40 Oral Roberts (2-0) vs. #19 Louisiana-Lafayette, 2 p.m.
Army (0-2) vs. UTSA (0-1), 6 p.m.