RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team scored eight runs in the fourth inning to beat the Northern Illinois University Huskies 11-1 in seven innings on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
 
The Vaqueros (4-4) sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth. Sophomore Diego Ramirez led off with a double and immediately scored on a single by graduate student Joseph Impeduglia. Postbaccalaureate student Christian Sepulveda followed with an infield-single and then junior Vela alum RJ Galvan hit an RBI-double. Senior Jacob Hirsh followed by driving in a run with a ground ball. He also reached on an error. Freshman Spencer Serven was plunked to load the bases, and then graduate student Andy Atwood followed with an RBI-single to knock out Michael Lasiewicz (0-1). Graduate student Conrado Diaz kept the hit parade going with a two-run double. One out later, Ramirez hit an RBI-single and Impeduglia came up with a sacrifice fly to cap the inning and make the score 11-1.
 
Senior Kevin Stevens (1-2) made the runs stand up, pitching 6.0 innings and allowing an unearned run on four hits and two walks while striking out 10.
 
The Huskies (1-3) scored their run in the top of the second on an error.
 
Sepulveda responded with a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning.
 
Sepulveda finished 3-for-3 with a walk, three RBI and two runs scored. Impeduglia went 2-for-2 with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored. Ramirez and Atwood each finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
 
UTRGV and Northern Illinois play game two of this four-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. UTRGV Athletics is capping capacity at UTRGV Baseball Stadium at about 1,000 fans. Single-game tickets can be purchased online at UTRGVTickets.com. For more information about game day, visit GoUTRGV.com/game-day.
 
Fans can also watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.

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