RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team opened the season with a 12-7 loss to the Baylor Bears, a team receiving votes in the preseason Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA polls, in game one of a doubleheader on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
 
Graduate student Christian Sepulveda led the Vaqueros (0-1) offensively by going 2-for-3 with a double, a home run, a career-high tying four RBI and two runs scored.
 
Sepulveda hit his home run, a three-run shot, in the sixth to bring the Vaqueros to within 12-7. He doubled leading off the third before scoring and added a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
 
Junior Brett Cain gave the Vaqueros the lead in the second inning by muscling an opposite field home run over the left-center field wall.
 
The Bears (1-0) responded against senior Kevin Stevens (0-1) immediately, as Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo hit a two-run home run and Andy Thomas followed with a three-run shot to make the score 5-1.
 
The Vaqueros got one back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI-single by junior DeAndre' Shelton.
 
In the top of the fourth, though, Jared McKenzie hit a home run and then the Bears added three more unearned runs on a two-run double by Thomas and an RBI-single by Davion Downey to go up 9-2.
 
The Vaqueros loaded the bases twice in the bottom of the inning, scoring on the Sepulveda sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk by Spencer Serven.
 
Hambleton Oliver (1-0) issued the walk to Serven before settling down to pitch 1.1 hitless innings of relief for the win.
 
The Bears added three more runs in the fifth on a McKenzie home run.
 
Jacob Ashkinos pitched three scoreless innings for the save.
 
UTRGV and Baylor play game two of this doubleheader at appoximately 3:20 p.m. Fans can watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.

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