Scorpions fall 11-4, eliminated from RRAC Tourney

University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College had its second half wave of momentum come crashing down in the semi-finals against No. 19 ranked Texas Wesleyan University.

The Rams exploded for seven runs in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie in the to end the Scorpions bid for the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament championship bid as UTB-TSC fell 11-4 at Scorpion Field on Thursday night.

"I have to say it again my hats off to UT-Brownsville," TWU coach Mike Jeffcoat said. "They impressed me the both times they played us and both games could have gone either way."

UTB-TSC fought valiantly to come back from a 3-0 deficit with the help of shortstop Iganacio Celedon who hit a solo home run in the second and go-head RBI in the seventh to give the Scorpions a 4-3 advantage.

TWU came back in the bottom of the seventh scoring Butch Ballez on a wild pitch by Brian Dombeck who tossed a solid 5.1 innings of relief with six strikeouts giving up four runs (one earned).

Scorpion's ace Julian Moya relieved Dombeck on one day's rest.

Rams catcher Kyle Harman fisted a 30-foot groundball off Moya bringing home Jerry Fisher in the next at bat to give the TWU the lead.

Moya then gave up a walk and a single before allowing the knockout punch as Zach Smith belted a three-run blast off the Scorpion wall as part of the seven-run inning.

"We got a great effort out of Brian and he gave us a chance to get back in it," Barta said. "It was hard to see that happen to (Julian) he's our guy."

The loss was the final chapter in the Scorpions amazing 2008 turnaround including the RRAC tournament where they eliminated Wiley and Bacone College.

"We had some ups and downs," Coach Joel Barta said. "But they had the strength to stay with it (all season) and that's the thing I like the most. We just keep going along knocking off team's that had our number this year. To stay with it was really big we just came five outs shorts."

The Scorpions earned the right to the semi-final game in the morning as the team rolled past Bacone College 11-5 but UTB-TSC also suffered a loss in the game as well.

In the top of the third with two outs infielder Scott Price chased a shallow hit ball and collided with center fielder Robby Mang who managed to still catch the final out of the inning.

Price stayed down for close to 45 minutes before paramedics arrived taking him off the field in a stretcher.

According to athletic trainer Katy Japp the Scorpion second baseman suffered a broken fibula and tibia.

UTB-TSC started 1-15 to boast a respectable 24-32 record and its only losses in the tournament came from the Rams.