RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team rallied back from an 8-0 deficit to beat the Baylor Bears, a team receiving votes in the preseason Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA polls, 9-8 on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
 
This is the third-straight year in which the Vaqueros (1-1) have defeated a Big 12 team during their opening series, beating Kansas State twice and No. 16 Oklahoma State once at home each of the last two years.
 
The Vaqueros trailed 8-0 after four and a half innings, but broke through against Tyler Thomas in the fifth when freshman Spencer Serven golfed a two-run home run into the Baylor bullpen to make the score 8-2.
 
That was it against Thomas, who pitched 6.0 innings, scattering four hits and two walks while striking out four.
 
The Vaqueros rallied in the seventh against Travis Hester, as Serven drove-in a run with a single, graduate student Coleman Grubbs hit a two-run single and then, one batter later, graduate student Andy Atwood smashed a three-run home run down the left field line to tie the game.
 
Then, with a runner at third and two outs in the eighth, Serven hit a grounder to the left side against Logan Freeman(0-1) and beat the throw by a half step to drive-in the winning run.
 
That made a winner of junior Deryk Serbantez (1-0), who struck out four across two scoreless innings to end the game.
 
The Bears (1-1) sent eight batters to the plate in the first, platting runs on a fielder's choices by Andy Thomas and Trey Richardson and a double by Davion Downey.
 
Chase Wehsener, the only Bear that didn't bat in the first, led off the second with a home run to make the score 4-0.
 
An Antonio Valdez RBI-single give the Bears a 5-0 lead in the third.
 
The Bears added three runs in the fifth on singles by Valdez, Wehsener and Jared McKenzie.
 
UTRGV and Baylor complete this three-game series on Monday at 1 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. The game will be played with attendance limited only to families of the student-athletes and coaches on the team pass lists. Concession stands will not be open as UTRGV Athletics does not want to try resupplying the concessions stands during a time at which members of the community are trying to fill their own pantries.
 
Fans can watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.

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