The Monkey Has Fallen Off

Now everyone is breathing easier with the Scorpion baseball team.

UTB/TSC hosted teams from Massachusetts, North Dakota and Nebraska during Spring Break. There were 15 games in six days at Scorpion Field between March 13-19, not counting a rain day on Tuesday where no games were played.

The Scorpions went 4-0 against Fisher College (Mass.), 4-0 against Valley City State University (N.D.), and 1-0 against Concordia University (Nebraska).

What does this all mean?

It means that the Scorpions are now 17-15 for the year after starting the year at 8-15. Let's look back at the teams they went 8-15 against:

NAIA Teams:

• Wayland Baptist University, 1-3 at home: The Pioneers were one win away from advancing to the NAIA World Series in 2009. They came into the year ranked No. 23 in the NAIA preseason poll. This year, the Pioneers are 18-9 overall and 6-4 in the tough Sooner Athletic Conference.
• Lubbock Christian University, 1-3 on road: The Chaps are defending NAIA national champions, and came into the year No. 1 in the preseason poll. This year, they are 21-9 overall and 8-3 in the SAC.
• University of Houston-Victoria, 4-0 at home, 1-3 on road, 5-3 overall: The Jaguars are 17-18 overall and 4-0 in the Independent Conference.

NCAA Division I Teams

• UT-Pan American, 0-2 on road: The Broncs are much improved at 9-5 this year. They lost to the Texas Longhorns, 3-2, in Austin. The Scorpions scored 26 runs against the Broncs in two games, but allowed 35.
• Prairie View A&M University, 1-1 on neutral field. The Panthers are at least 2-7, and split two games with Huston-Tillotson University. The PVAM athletics website does not have game results.
• Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 0-1 on road. The Islanders are 10-9.

NCAA Division III Teams

• Concordia University-Texas: 0-2 on road. The Tornados are 10-13 overall.

Analysis: The Scorpions played some pretty good teams prior to their nine-game winning streak.

What does all this mean?

After winning the nine in a row, the real season starts this weekend with Red River Athletic Conference South Zone games. Three of the four zone opponents have losing records, and UTB/TSC should take care of those games. The real challenge will be the final series of the regular season against Wiley College.  The Wildcats are 13-7.

Individually speaking ...

• Jorge Camorlinga has a 14-game hitting streak to improve his batting average to .376. He has tied the team NAIA record set by Gilbert Puente in 2008. Camo is a nuisance to opposing pitchers once he gets on base. He's just doing his job.
• The Scorpions seem to have settled into a bullpen rotation. Three times this past week, relievers Sam Chapman, Luis Sanchez and Jesus Mendoza did great work in one-inning appearances. Mendoza now has three saves, which ties a season team record.
• Just call Adam Vera the fireman. In three outings, Vera was called to bring out the fire hose with two outs and runners on base. He came into games three times with two outs and runners aboard. On the first, he struck out a batter on three pitchers, ending it with a breaking pitch inside. The second time, he came in after Sanchez apparently hurt his back with a 2-2 count on a batter. Vera came into the game, threw a big bender, and froze the batter to end the threat. The third time, his second pitch resulted in a lazy fly to right field. He threw six pitches and got three outs to end rallies. He's picked up two victories this way. Teammates are calling him the Vulture, because he swoops up victories from starting pitchers.