CHICAGO, Ill. – Down three entering the ninth, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team put the go-ahead run on base before falling to Chicago State University (CSU) 5-4 on Friday at Cougar Stadium.
 
Down 5-2 in the ninth, UTRGV (21-28, 6-13 WAC) tried to rally, as junior Anthony Gomez hit a one-out single, sophomore Elijah Alexander followed with an RBI-triple, and sophomore Coleman Grubbs singled him in. Sophomore Tyler Torres then hit a single to put the go-ahead run on base, but Yunis Halim came in and got senior Austin Siener to ground into a double play for his first save.
 
The top three hitters in UTRGV's lineup combined to go 7-for-15 (.467) with three RBI and three runs scored. Gomez went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Alexander went 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI. Grubbs went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
 
Gomez doubled and scored on an Alexander single against Grant Trower (1-4) in the opening minutes of the game.
 
An inning later, with UTRGV down 3-1, junior Conrad McMahon lifted a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-2 CSU.
 
Trower allowed five hits and five walks while striking out three in six innings.
 
CSU (11-37, 5-14 WAC) scored three runs in the first against senior PSJA alum Jorge Flores (6-5) as, with one out, Cody Freund singled, Matt Paciello hit an RBI-double, Tyler Lowe hit an RBI-single, and after a wild pitch, Jacob Vanitvelt hit an RBI-double.
 
Freund singled home a run in the second to put CSU up 4-2.
 
Flores went six innings, striking out six while allowing seven hits and two walks.
 
CSU added a run in the ninth on a squeeze by Tyler Zunkel.
 
UTRGV and Chicago State play the middle game of this series on Saturday at 12 p.m.

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