EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley baseball team, which is receiving votes in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) poll, fell to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5-4 in the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, on Tuesday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
 
UTRGV (4-1) still leads Corpus Christi (3-1) in the showdown standings 18.5-to-14.5.
 
UTRGV scored all of its runs through home runs, as sophomore Mercedes alum Matthew Mendoza belted his first-career home run, a three-run shot, off the scoreboard in the sixth, and senior Ivan Estrella added a solo shot to left in the eighth.
 
Estrella finished with his fifth-career three-hit game, scoring twice. Sophomore Elijah Alexander also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
 
Corpus Christi got on the board against junior Brownsville Veterans alum Luis Acosta (0-1) right away, as Thomas Jeffries hit into a fielder's choice to drive-in a run in the first.
 
Scott Balfantz hit a two-run single to put Corpus Christi up 3-0 in the third.
 
In the sixth, Andriud Martinez came up with a pinch-hit home run and then Dalton Stark hit an RBI-single to put Corpus Christi up 5-0.
 
That made a winner of Tate Gillespie (1-0), who allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out six in six innings.
 
Chris Cooper pitched the final 2.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit while striking out two, for his first save.
 
UTRGV is back in action on Friday at 7 p.m. for the first game of a three-game series against the University of Illinois at Chicago. Gates open at 6.
 
The next event of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, is Feb. 26-27 when women's golf visits Corpus Christi.

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