RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Despite showing incredible fight to the final pitch, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team dropped the opening game of its Western Athletic Conference (WAC) series 9-8 to the Lamar Cardinals on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. 
 
The Vaqueros trailed 9-3 heading to the ninth inning. They'd only notched five hits at that point, while the Cardinals had scattered 16. Junior third baseman Diego Ramirez and junior left fielder Brandon Pimentel blasted back-to-back standup RBI doubles to right to trim the deficit to 9-5. 
 
After a walk and a wild pitch, the Vaqueros found themselves with two runners in scoring position with one away. Graduate student right fielder Freddy Rojas Jr. drew a walk to load the bases. Sophomore first baseman Jacob Sanchez lined a RBI single back to the pitcher, then graduate student centerfielder Brett Cain smoked a two-RBI single to right center, getting all the way within one run with one out. 
 
Lamar's Jack Dallas, the fifth relief pitcher used by the Cardinals and third to take the mound in the ninth, recorded two massive strikeouts to maintain the win, improving Lamar to 15-7 and 6-1 in WAC play. Daniel Cole earned the win for the Cardinals after pitching 1.2 hitless innings, allowing one earned run on a wild pitch and recording two walks and two strikeouts. 
 
Redshirt senior RHP Kevin Stevens got the start for UTRGV (11-10, 2-5 WAC). He pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits and struck out six. Junior RHP Braxton Douthit got the start for the Cardinals and lasted 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts. UTRGV senior RHP Ricky Gerik Jr. took the loss. He faced three batters and gave up two earned runs on two hits and one walk. 
 
After a defensive first few innings, the Cardinals struck first in the top of the fifth on a RBI single by first baseman Chase Kemp. Kemp led all hitters with a 4-for-6 night at the plate, recording two RBIs, one double and two runs scored. Lamar catcher Ryan Snell tallied four RBI on three hits.
 
Lamar used back-to-back two-out singles up the middle to extend its lead to 2-0 in the sixth with a RBI from third baseman Ethan Ruiz. 
 
UTRGV answered in the bottom of the sixth. Following a one-out single by Pimentel, graduate student catcher Bryan Sturges worked the count full after falling behind 0-2, then knocked a rocket that bounced off the third baseman to reach first safely. Rojas worked a walk to load the bases with one away, ending Douthit's night. 
 
The first pitch from Cole was wild, scoring Pimentel. Sanchez delivered with a deep sacrifice fly down the left field line to score Sturges, tying the game at 2-2. 
 
Lamar scattered seven hits and scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings combined to open up an 8-2 lead. UTRGV got a run back thanks to three walks in the bottom of the eighth, including one to graduate student centerfielder Brett Cain with bases loaded, making it 8-3. 
 
Lamar knocked two more hits in the top of the ninth to bring its game total to 16 and increase the lead to 9-3 following a RBI single from Snell. 
 
Ramirez, Pimentel, Sanchez and Cain each recorded two hits to lead the valiant comeback attempt from the Vaqueros. 
 
Game 2 of the series between UTRGV and Lamar will be played Saturday at 6 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.  

Support UTRGV Baseball | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube