RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team drew a season-high 13 walks to complete the three-game sweep of the University of Northern Colorado Bears by winning 15-2 in seven innings on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
 
The Vaqueros (28-21, 19-12 WAC) and their next opponent, Sacramento State (19-13 WAC) will be the No. 2 or the No. 3 seed in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament. Which team gets which seed will depend on the outcome of the four-game road series that starts on Thursday at 5 p.m. The No. 2 seed gets a first round bye in the WAC Tournament. Fans can watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.
 
This is the first time the Vaqueros have drawn 13 walks in a game since March 14, 2015, against Arlington Baptist. The is the first time the Vaqueros have ever drawn 13 walks in a WAC game and the first time the Vaqueros have drawn 13 walks in a conference game since April 30, 2011 against Houston Baptist in the Great West Conference.
 
Five of the Vaqueros' walks drove-in runs. Five of the batters who walked scored runs.
 
Seven of the Vaqueros' walks came in the nine-run fifth inning that featured only three hits. The first four batters of the inning walked. The last of those walks was by postbaccalaureate student Christian Sepulveda to drive-in a run. Freshman PSJA alum Jacob Sanchez and senior Jacob Hirsh followed with RBI-singles and then graduate students Coleman Grubbs and Andy Atwood drew bases-loaded walks. One out later, sophomore Angel De La Cruz drew a bases-loaded walk. One out after that, senior Elijah Alexander hit a bases-clearing triple to cap the inning with the Vaqueros up 15-2.
 
In his final home game, Atwood hit his career-high ninth home run, a two-run shot, to get the scoring started against Cooper Rust (2-2) in the first.
 
Over his last 17 games, Atwood is hitting .500 (30-60) with 8 home runs, 19 RBI & 23 runs scored.
 
The Vaqueros scored six runs while sending 11 batters to the plate in the first. After the home run, the Vaqueros loaded the bases with one out, setting up an infield RBI-single by Sepulveda. Sanchez followed with a bases-loaded walk to force-in a run. Hirsh came up next and lifted a sacrifice fly before a double steal allowed Sepulveda to score to cap the inning.
 
The Bears (11-32, 7-20 WAC) scored their runs in the second on an error and a Garrett Fisher single.
 
The Bears had a chance for more, loading the bases with nobody out in the top of the fifth when the score was 6-2. Junior Ricky Gerik Jr. (4-2) came into the game and struck out Matt Burkart on three pitches before getting Ben McKay to hit into a double play to escape the threat.

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