MESA, Ariz. – No. 3 seed The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team eliminated the defending Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament Champion and No. 2 seed Sacramento State Hornets 10-0 in eight innings at the WAC Tournament on Saturday at Hohokam Stadium.
 
UTRGV (32-25) faces No. 1 seed Grand Canyon, a team receiving votes in the latest USA Today Coaches and NCBWA polls, at 8 p.m. If the Vaqueros win, they will face Grand Canyon on Sunday at 2 p.m. for the WAC Tournament Championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Fans in the United States can watch online via ESPN+. Fans outside the United States can watch online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.
 
UTRGV is looking to become the fifth-straight No. 3 seed to win the WAC Tournament Championship.
 
The win in this game is the 100^th in the career of UTRGV head coach Derek Matlock, who is now 100-84 (.543) in four seasons.
 
In just his fourth start of the season, junior Deryk Serbantez (3-2) was dominant, striking out a career-high tying six in a career-high 6.0 scoreless innings while scattering four hits and three walks.
 
Serbantez was bolstered by a parade of great defensive plays.
 
With a runner at first and nobody out in the first, Trevor Doyle hit a hot shot to third that sophomore Diego Ramirez, playing on the lip of the infield grass, was able to snag by diving to his right. Ramirez then got to his feet and threw to first for the out.
 
The next batted ball of the game went into right-center field. Graduate student Coleman Grubbs came racing in and slid to make the catch.
 
The Hornets (35-22) loaded the bases with two outs in the second. Nick Iwasa hit a ground ball up the middle, but postbaccalaureate student Christian Sepulveda ranged far to his left, grabbing the ball behind the second base bag before making a strong throw to first to end the threat.
 
Then, with a runner at first and two outs in the fourth, Jack Bollengier tried to catch the defense by surprise with a bunt, but Ramirez raced in, fielded the ball and made a good throw on the run to end the inning.
 
In the fifth, the Hornets put a runner at first with nobody out. Iwasa hit another ground ball up the middle. Sepulveda dove to his left to snare the ball. As his chest hit the ground, Sepulveda flipped the ball directly from his glove into the glove of graduate student Andy Atwood covering the second base bag to get the out.
 
In the sixth, the Hornets had two on with two out when Martin Vincelli-Simard hit a liner down the third base line that Ramirez caught on the backhand while falling to his knees.
 
Senior Chase Bridges, who pitched 2.0 scoreless innings of relief, was also the recipient of some strong defense.
 
The first batter Bridges faced, Keith Torres, hit a sinking liner to right that Hirsh caught while sliding forward.
 
Then, with two on and nobody out in the eighth, Chris Gonzalez hit a hot shot down the first base line. Sophomore Angel De La Cruz dove to his right to smother the ball before flipping to Bridges covering first for the out.
 
The Vaqueros broke the scoreless tie against Travis Adams (6-3) in the third on a two-out RBI-single by Grubbs.
 
In the fourth, the Vaqueros put runners on the corners with one out to set up an RBI-bunt single by senior Elijah Alexander and an RBI-double by De La Cruz that made the score 3-0.
 
The Vaqueros scored five runs in the seventh. With runners on the corners and one out, Grubbs came up with an RBI-bunt single. After a walk loaded the bases, graduate student Joseph Impeduglia hit a two-run single. One out later, Alexander hit a two-run single to put the Vaqueros up 8-0.
 
The Vaqueros ended the game in the eighth, as with two on and one out, Grubbs reached on a fielder's choice and an error allowed junior Vela alum RJ Ochoa to score. Atwood followed with a walk-off RBI-single.
 
Atwood finished 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Sepulveda went 3-for-4 with a career-high tying three runs scored. Alexander finished 2-for-4 with three RBI. Grubbs went 2-for-5 with two RBI and one run scored. Impeduglia finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored. Ochoa went 2-for-4 with a run scored.



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