RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Senior
Kevin Stevens and junior
Jesus Aldaz combined to pitch a one-hit shutout to lead The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team to a 3-0 season opening victory over the George Washington Colonials on Friday in front of a crowd of 2,418 at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
This is the largest attendance for a UTRGV baseball home game since prior to 2008. The previous largest attendance in that time was on Feb. 15, 2019, when UTRGV opened the season against Oklahoma State. The crowd was thanked for their attendance with a fireworks show after the game.
This is the 41
st one-hitter in program history. This was the third time Stevens has been part of a 1-hitter after starting a combined one-hitter against Kansas State on Feb. 14, 2020, and then pitching a complete game one-hit shutout against Northern Colorado on May 14, 2021. Stevens is one of nine pitchers to be part of multiple one-hitters, one of eight to start multiple 1-hitters, and one of four to start or be a part of three one-hitters in program history.
Stevens (1-0) retired the first 12 batters he faced, striking out nine. Then, after allowing a leadoff single in the fifth, Stevens struck out the next three while retiring the final six batters he faced. Stevens finished with a career-high 13 strikeouts.
Junior
Jesus Aldaz pitched a career-high 3.0 hitless innings, striking out a career-high five and walking one while facing the minimum nine batters, for his first-career save.
Colonials (0-1) starter
Harrison Cohen (0-1) didn't allow a hit over the first 4.2 innings. With two outs in the fifth, though, graduate student
DeAndre' Shelton dragged a bunt for a hit and then graduate student
Brett Cain lined a triple to the left-center field wall to give the Vaqueros (1-0) the first run of the game.
Junior
Brandon Pimentel and graduate student
Bryan Sturges led off the sixth with singles to knock out Cohen. After a sacrifice bunt, sophomore
Alex Kelch hit a grounder to second to bring home a run. Junior
Angel De La Cruzdid the same in the next at-bat to score Sturges and make the score 3-0.
UTRGV and GW play game two of this three-game series on Saturday at 1 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
UTRGVTickets.com. Gates open at 12 p.m. Those unable to attend the game in person can watch in the United States on
ESPN3 or internationally on the
WAC Digital Network.
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