HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley baseball team fell to Houston Baptist University (HBU) 13-7 on Wednesday at Husky Field.
 
Sophomore Mercedes alum Oliver Closner IV led UTRGV (20-12) offensively by going a career-best 4-for-5 with his first home run of the year and a career-high tying two runs scored. Junior Tyler Torres finished 2-for-4. Freshman Jacob Flores went 2-for-3. Junior Christian Sepulveda drove-in three runs while junior Coleman Grubbs drove-in two runs.
 
Senior Harlingen South alum Zach Martinez led the way on the mound, tossing three innings of scoreless relief, striking out two. Senior Ben Butler struck out two in a scoreless inning.
 
UTRGV took an immediate lead, as Sepulveda launched a two-run home run in the first.
 
In the bottom of the inning, however, HBU (10-22) plated three runs against senior Chase Adams (1-2) on a Trent Franson double and infield-singles by Brandon Bena and Ryne Edmondson.
 
A Nathan Soriano sacrifice fly put HBU up 4-2 in the fourth.
 
Then, in the third, singles by Soriano, Franson and Johnny Gonzales, a Bena fielder's choice and an Edmondson single gave HBU a 9-2 lead.
 
UTRGV got three runs back in the fifth on Closner's home run, a Grubbs double and a Sepulveda groundout.
 
UTRGV scored twice more in the eighth on a single by junior Elijah Alexander and a sacrifice fly by Grubbs to pull within 9-7.
 
HBU got four runs back with two outs in the eighth, however, on singles by Erick Voller and Edmondson and a two-run double by Cal Clark.
 
Eight different HBU batters had multi-hit games, led by Jeremy Simon, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of triples and a run scored, and Edmondson, who went 3-for-5 with three RBI.
 
Solomon Klimeck (2-0) picked up the win in relief by striking out four in 2.2 innings.
 
UTRGV resumes Western Athletic Conference play on Friday at 8:30 p.m. with the first of three games at Grand Canyon.

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