GREELEY, Colo.– The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team dropped the first game of a three-game series to the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) 5-4 on Friday at Jackson Field.
 
With the score tied at 4 in the ninth, Dean Lawson hit a leadoff double and Matt Burkart hit a walk-off single against junior Nikki Rowe alum Ryan Jackson(3-2).
 
That made a winner of Connor Leddholm (3-3), who struck out two in a perfect ninth.
 
Sophomore Coleman Grubbs led UTRGV (21-25, 6-10 WAC) offensively by going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
 
UTRGV took a 1-0 lead in the first on a bases loaded walk by junior Anthony Gomez.
 
In the second, senior Austin Siener lifted a sacrifice fly and sophomore Tyler Torres reached on an error to score senior Ivan Estrella and put UTRGV up 3-0.
 
In the bottom of the inning, however, UNC (24-21, 7-12 WAC) tied the game on a three-run home run by Jack Pauley.
 
UNC took the lead when Lawson hit into a fielder's choice in the fourth.
 
That was all against senior PSJA alum Jorge Flores, who struck out nine in 6.2 innings.
 
UTRGV tied the game in the seventh on a two-out single by Grubbs.
 
UTRGV and UNC play the middle game of this three-game series on Saturday at 3.

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