UT Permian Basin rode the arms of
Trever Berg and Danny Juarez to a dominating 7-2 opening day victory over #15 West Texas A&M. The duo combined for 12 strike outs and allowed just seven base runners as the Falcons (1-0) jumped all over the Buffalo (0-1) starter Mathieu Gauthier. The win is the first in program history over the Buffs.
The Falcons got off to a rally right off the bat.
Pemron Burrows worked a lead-off walk before
Torren Brozovich boomed a triple off the center field wall. He'd score two batters later on a sac fly off the bat of
Nick Hernandez, giving the Falcons the quick 2-0 lead. The Buffs struck back with a home run by Eric Ortiz to lead off the second inning but Berg escaped without further damage.
In their half of the second, the Falcons rallied again.
Alex Wixson singled to start things off and
Nick Schnopp moved him over on a single of his own.
Pemron Burrows was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out. Wixson scored on a wild pitch to extend the Falcon lead. Brozovich tripled into the right field corner, scoring two. Jay Desoto followed with an RBI-single making it 6-1 in the second inning. Both pitchers cruised until Ortiz homered off Berg to make the score 6-2. The Falcons responded with an insurance run in their half of the inning.
Michael Clapperton walked to lead off the innings and moved over on a Brozovich single. Hernandez singled through the right side for the huge insurance run.
Juarez relieved Berg in the top of the seventh and allowed a one-out double and a walk but escaped further trouble after striking out the next two batters. Juarez struck out the side in the eight and fanned two more in the ninth for the season opening win.
Berg went 6.0 innings and struck out five to earn the win while Juarez earned the save striking out seven over 3.0 innings. Brozovich paced the offense going 3-for-5 with three RBI and a pair of triples. Wixson had a pair of hits while Hernandez had a pair of RBI. Desoto reached base four times, including working three walks.
These two teams are back in action tomorrow in the second game of their weekend series with first pitch slated for 2 p.m.
