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For Immediate
Release: Sunday, March 16, 2003 ILLINI DEFEAT BRONCS AT UTPA/AL OGLETREE CLASSIC EDINBURG, TX- Ted Rowe and Dave Mazurek combined on a five-hitter and opportunistic Illinois capitalized on their chances and defeated The University of Texas-Pan American's baseball team, 4-0, at the first annual UTPA/Al Ogletree Classic at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium Saturday night. The Illini scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings and got a pinch-hit, two-run home run from Trevor Frederickson in the top of the ninth to remain as the only unbeaten team in the tournament after the first two days of action. Freshman righthander Aaron Guerra (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg HS) matched Rowe, with each throwing nothing but zeroes for the first five innings before Illinois broke through in the sixth. Right fielder Joe Parenti led off with an infield single, advanced to second on an infield grounder, and went to third on an infield single by designated hitter Drew Davidson. Center fielder Brandon Cashman's sacrifice fly accounted for the first run of the game. Illinois made it 2-0 in their next at-bat. Third baseman Dusty Bensko doubled with one out, shortstop Eric Eymann was hit by a pitch, and catcher Sean Patrick beat out an infield hit to load the bases. Guerra induced second baseman T.F. Meagher to pop out to second, but hit Parenti, making it 2-0. Frederickson's ninth-inning pinch-hit homer against junior reliever Johnny Gibson (Sachse, TX/Naaman Forest HS/Collin County CC) accounted for the final score. The Broncs put more than one man on base only once. Freshman second baseman T.J. Gilmer (Forney, TX/Forney HS) singled with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but was erased when senior center fielder Jerome McCoy (Fort Worth, TX/Eastern Hills HS/Northeast Texas CC) hit into a fielder's choice. Mazurek relieved, and struck out senior left fielder Bruce Kennedy (Mansfield, TX/Mansfield HS/Northeast Texas CC), but Kennedy reached when the third strike was a wild pitch. Mazurek then got sophomore shortstop Marco Garza (Mission, TX/Sharyland HS) to ground out to first base. "We lost because they did a better job of executing than we did," said UTPA Head Coach Willie Gawlik. "They got all of their bunts down, executed their hit and run plays, and didn't make any baserunning mistakes. When you play a good team like Illinois, there is no margin for error, and we didn't play well enough fundamentally. In a tight ballgame, you can't afford to make mistakes. Their pitcher did a good job, and Aaron also threw a heck of a game. We had to score to give him a chance to win the game, and we weren't able to do that." Rowe, who allowed all five hits in seven and two-thirds
innings, earned the victory and improved to 1-1, while Mazurek picked
up his first save of the season. Guerra was the loser and dropped to
2-3. |