OREM, Utah - Chicago State University baseball opened Great West Conference Tournament play here this afternoon at Brent Brown Ballpark against Texas-Pan American, but the second-seeded Broncs claimed a 10-4 win over the seventh-seeded Cougars.
The Green and White opened the game with an early 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI double from senior Jeremy Ratajczyk (Highland, IN/Indiana University Northwest) (Highland, Ind.) and an RBI infield groundout by junior Eric O'Brien (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino) (Tuscon, Ariz.).
UTPA got on the board in the second inning when Derek Hagy lined an RBI single through the right side that scored Riley Goulding from second to slice its deficit to 2-1.
In the third inning, the Broncs tied the score at 2-2 after Goulding hit a single to left field which plated Mike McCarthy, who walked with two outs a couple of plays earlier.
Angel Ibanez put the home team ahead 4-2 in the fourth inning after hitting a two-run homer to right field off CSU starting pitcher Andrew Wellwerts (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) (Cedar Lake, Ind.) which also scored Roger Bernal.
The Cougars bounced back with a run in the top of the sixth to pull within 4-3 after Ratajczyk blasted an RBI single of UTPA starter Jonathan Sa through the right side to score senior Jonathan Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) (Whiting, Ind.) from second base, but Vincent Mejia's RBI single in the bottom half of the inning scored Roger Bernal from second to increase UTPA's advantage to 5-3.
Five more runs crossed the plate in the seventh inning for the Broncs to hike their leading margin to 8-3 that was highlighted by a couple of two-run singles from Hagy and Ibanez.
The visitors closed out the scoring in the ninth inning when senior Shane McGaharan (Northwood, OH/Patrick Henry CC) (Northwood, Ohio) reached base on a fielder's choice and scored three plays later on a wild pitch for the final margin.
Ratajczyk finished the game hitting 3-of-5 with two doubles and two RBI to lead Chicago State, while Wellwerts (1-5) took the loss after allowing eight runs on 12 hits in 6.1 innings of work. Senior Andrew Watson (Shawnee, OK/Eastern Oklahoma State CC) (Shawnee, Okla.) pitched 1.2 scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts for the Green and White.
Goulding and Iradier Hernandez each hit 3-of-4 at the plate to lead Texas-Pan American's 15-hit attack. Sa (5-2) earned the win as he recorded five strikeouts in addition to giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings thrown.
CSU returns to action tomorrow against third-seeded NJIT with the first pitch set for 10 a.m., central time.
~CSU~
