RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team beat the Northern Illinois University Huskies 5-4 in seven innings in game two of a doubleheader on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium to complete the four-game sweep.
 
The Vaqueros (7-4) are now winners of five in a row.
 
One year to the day after his last start, graduate student Max Balderrama Jr. (1-0) earned the start, pitching five scoreless innings and striking out a career-high tying 10. The last time Balderrama struck out 10 was exactly one year prior against NJIT. In this game, Balderrama scattered two hits and one walk.
 
The Vaqueros jumped on Connor Langreder (0-1) in the first, as after two walks to start the inning, graduate student Conrado Diaz hit an RBI-single, graduate student Coleman Grubbs hit a two-run double, and sophomore Diego Ramirez hit an RBI-double to make the score 4-0.
 
The Vaqueros added a run in the fifth on a Serven sacrifice fly.
 
The Huskies (1-6) scored two runs in the sixth on a double by Jordan Larson. They got two more in the seventh on an RBI-triple by Paddy McKermitt and an RBI-groundout by Nick Drobushevich before junior Deryk Serbantez struck out Dylan Lonteen for his second save.
 
UTRGV plays its next 13 games on the road, starting with four games to open Western Athletic Conference play at Grand Canyon Friday through Sunday. The first game is Friday at 7 p.m. Fans can watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.

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