BEAUMONT – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team dropped the first game of a three-game series to the Lamar University Cardinals 4-1 on Friday at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
 
The Vaqueros (3-7) only had two hits against Will Hibbs (2-0) through the first four innings, but with one out in the fifth, junior Austin Oakes reached on an infield-single, and then with two outs, freshman Caden Rosholt doubled to left field to tie the game at 1.
 
Hibbs lasted eight innings, striking out four while allowing seven hits and one walk.
 
Senior Cole Loncar had two of those hits, marking his first multi-hit game of the year.
 
The gamed stayed tied until the eighth, when Jake Nash hit a bases-clearing triple off of sophomore Harlingen South alum Zach Martinez (0-1) to give the Cardinals (8-3) the lead.
 
Jimmy Johnson pitched a hitless ninth for his first save.
 
Sophomore Johnny Gonzalez worked in and out of trouble for much of his 4.2 innings, with the only blemish coming in the third, when Stijn van der Meer led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Nash single.
 
Gonzalez departed with two on and two out in the fifth, but senior Parker Gallegos escaped the jam en route to 2.1 scoreless innings of relief.
 
The Vaqueros and Cardinals play the middle game of this series on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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