EDINBURG – Sophomore Johnny Gonzalez racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts over eight innings to lead the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team to a 9-3 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) opening victory over the New Mexico State University Aggies on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
 
Gonzalez (4-1) allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks. Three of those hits came from Brent Sakurai, meaning Gonzalez held the rest of the Aggies (15-11, 3-1 WAC) to 1-of-26 hitting.
 
Gonzalez retired the first seven batters he faced, and then, after issuing a six-pitch walk and a bloop single, retired six in a row.
 
The Vaqueros (11-11, 1-0 WAC) gave Gonzalez all the support he needed in the first when they loaded the bases against Matthew McHugh (3-2) with two outs. Senior Correy Davis reached on an error to score a run and sophomore McAllen Memorial alum Manny Loredo drew a walk to force-in another run. Sophomore Victor Garcia Jr. followed with a bases-clearing double to make it 5-0.
 
The Vaqueros added another run in the second when junior Jose Garcia tripled and scored on an infield-single by junior Joseph Collazo.
 
Garcia finished a home run short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored.
 
After the Aggies got a run in the top of the fifth, Davis responded with a two-run double in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-1.
 
Jacob Huckabay capped a 2-for-5 night with an RBI-single in the sixth.
 
The Vaqueros and Aggies play the middle game of this three-game series on Saturday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network and on tape delay Sunday at 8 a.m. throughout Texas on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (323). Gates open at 5.

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