BELLEVUE, Wash. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team dropped the opener of a three-game series to the Seattle University Redhawks 7-4 on Friday at Bannerwood Park.
 
Junior Austin Oakes led the Vaqueros (18-19, 7-6 WAC) offensively by going 2-for-4 with an RBI. It was Oakes' second-straight multi-hit game, during which time he is 7-for-11 (.636) with four RBI. Sophomore Isaac Gonzalez also had a multi-hit game, going a season-best 2-for-3 with an RBI.
 
Junior Eddie Delgado (1-3) pitched a career-high 6.0 innings of relief, striking out two while allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks.
 
The Vaqueros got on the board in the second when senior Cole Loncar led off with a double off of Ted Hammond (7-2) before scoring on a sacrifice fly by junior Victor Garcia Jr. to make it 1-0.
 
The Redhawks (26-15, 13-3 WAC) tied the game with two outs on the bottom of the inning on a single by Griffin Andreychuk. Another run scored on a passed ball to give the Redhawks a 2-1 lead.
 
The Vaqueros tied the game in the fifth when Gonzalez laid down a suicide squeeze to bring home senior Correy Davis.
 
Senior Scott Mercer drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, and after advancing to third with two outs, scored on an Oakes single to give the Vaqueros a 3-2 lead.
 
In the bottom of the inning, however, the Redhawks loaded the bases with one out, setting up a bases clearing double by Curtis Perrin to put the Redhawks up 5-3.
 
The Vaqueros got one of those runs back in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by junior Jose Garcia, but a Dalton Hurd infield-single and a wild pitch pushed the Redhawks' lead to three in the eighth.
 
Zach Wolf worked around a pair of two-out hits to pitch a scoreless ninth for his seventh save.
 
The Vaqueros and Redhawks play the middle game of this three-game series on Saturday at 7 p.m.

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