Scorpions Bounce Back from Rough Start Against Nationally Ranked Teams
 Posted March 20, 2008
 When the UTB/TSC Scorpions opened the 2008 baseball season losing 15 of 16 games, some people worried.

Scorpion coach Joel Barta was concerned, but asked everyone to please be patient.

The patience is paying off now, as the Scorpions won 11 of their next 17 games.

Toughest Scorpion Opponents in 2008
Opponents Dates Results Ranking Records Pct.
Wayland Baptist University Jan. 19-20 0-4 #9 26-4-1 .854
Lubbock Christian University Jan. 25-26 0-4 #3 25-1 .961
University of Houston-Victoria Feb. 15-16 1-3   23-3 .884
Bacone College Feb. 22-23 0-3 #18 26-3 .897
Total   1-14   100-11-1 .897

UTB/TSC was not expected to challenge for the Red River Athletic Conference championship. The Scorpions came off a 17-26-1 record in 2007 and did not qualify for the six-team RRAC Tournament.

After the 17-game homestand against  opponents from Texas, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, there's new optimism around the Scorpions.

"It's not a sprint, it's a train ride," Barta said.

An evaluation of the first four Scorpion opponents of the season shows that the Scorpions played some pretty tough competition to start the season. The Scorpions lost eight straight games to Sooner Athletic Conference opponents Wayland Baptist University and Lubock Christian University. They won one of four games to newcomer University of Houston-Victoria, coached by former Houston Astros' infielder Terry Puhl. The following weekend, the Scorpions lost three games to RRAC North Zone member Bacone College.

Now that the season has extended past the halfway point, the Scorpions have now seen exactly how tough those first four opponents were. LCU is ranked #3 in the nation, WBU is ranked #9, and BC is ranked #18.

Those four teams have a combined record of 100 wins, 11 losses and one tie so far, with a combined winning percentage of .897.

"To try to be the best, you have to play the quality teams," Barta said. "That kind of competition creates a great proving ground when we get to the middle of the season."

Statistics almost show a tale of two seasons: the first when the Scorpions were 1-15 and the second after that.

Breakdown of First 16 Games & Next 17 Games
Batting At Bats Hits Avg. Home Runs
First 16 Games (1-15) 403 96 .238 1
Next 17 Games (11-6) 475 166 .349 11
Total 878 262 .298 12
Pitching Innings Earned Runs ERA
First 16 Games (1-15) 100.2 124 11.08
Next 17 Games (11-6) 118 67 5.11
Total 218.2 191 7.86

After the first 16 games, the Scorpions had a .238 batting average. In the last 17 games, they are batting .349 for an overall team batting average of .298.

"We saw a lot of pitching and early we saw the best the country has to offer," Barta said. 

After the first 16 games, the Scorpion pitching staff had an earned run average of 11.08. Since then, the team ERA is 5.11 for an overall ERA of 7.86.

Individually, sophomore pitcher Julian Moya has developed into the ace of the staff. After starting out 0-4 with an ERA of 7.67 in the first 16 games, he is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.61 since then. His overall record is now 4-4 with an ERA of 4.58.

Seven Scorpions now have batting averages over .300, led by left fielder Ryan MacDonald with a .391 average. Jorge Camorlinga is batting .370, Tyler O'Neal .368, Brian Dombeck .355, Andres Monterrubio .333, and Scott Price and Jacob Yousif are both batting.313.

The Scorpions are flexing their power as well. With 12 homers, the Scorpions have already doubled their home run output from 2007. MacDonald, Collins and Puente have two homers each.

MacDonald has six triples, and ranks eighth in the nation in the category, averaging .194 triples per game.

With the 11-21 record and some renewed confidence, the Scorpions begin Red River Athletic Conference South Zone play against Texas College in Tyler this weekend.

"Naturally we would like to have our record reflect our team's ability but we dug our own hole so we will have to keep filling it in ourselves.  If we are not ready for conference games, it would be a real shame."

There are only 12 conference games in the five-team South Zone. The top three teams qualify for the conference tournament, which UTB/TSC will host April 29-May 3.

All Scorpion games will be webcast. Fans can follow the action by following a link posted each game day at http://athletics.utb.edu.