RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team clinched a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) series win against the Lamar Cardinals with a 14-2 victory on an explosive Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
 
UTRGV (13-10, 4-5 WAC) banged 16 hits, including six in a nine-run sixth inning, to enforce the 10-run rule. Graduate student right fielder Freddy Rojas Jr. blasted a grand slam to center to headline the big sixth inning. Rojas went 4-for-5 with four RBI to pace the Vaqueros offense. 
 
Redshirt junior RHP Jesus Aldaz got the start and picked up a win, going six innings with two earned runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out two. Lamar starting RHP Trhea Morse took the loss, allowing two earned runs on five hits and one walk in 1.2 innings of work for the Cardinals (15-9, 6-3 WAC). 
 
The Vaqueros jumped on Morse early, recording four hits in the first inning. Junior left fielder Brandon Pimentel smoked a two-run home run, his ninth of the season, to left field to get the scoring started. 
 
UTRGV made it 4-0 in the third inning with help from twelve straight balls that resulted in consecutive RBI walks to sophomore second baseman Alex Kelch and redshirt freshman shortstop Isaac Lopez. 
 
Lamar trimmed the deficit to 4-2 in the fifth with an RBI single up the middle from Kirkland Banks and an RBI fielder's choice from Kelby Weyler. A 9-2 putout off a great throw by Rojas and a quick tag from graduate student catcher Bryan Sturges after a fly ball fell in shallow right field ended the frame. 
 
Graduate student designated hitter Cameron Blake got a run back in the home half of the fifth with an RBI sacrifice fly to center. Aldaz worked around a leadoff single in the sixth as junior Diego Ramirez played great defense to tally three straight putouts at third to end the frame. 
 
Graduate student centerfielder Brett Cain got the rout started in the sixth, destroying the first pitch he saw for a three-run homerun to right to make it 8-2. Ramirez worked the third bases-loaded walk of the game to score Kelch, then Pimentel made it 10-2 with an RBI sacrifice fly to left. After the seventh walk issued by the Cardinals to load the bases again, Rojas hit his grand slam to put the run rule in effect. 
 
Sophomore first baseman Jacob Sanchez was 3-for-5 in the game. Blake, Sturges and Kelch each tallied two hits. Pimentel and Cain had three RBI apiece. Eight Vaqueros notched at least one hit in the contest and there were only three strikeouts. 
 
Sophomore RHP Angelo Cabral closed the game with a scoreless inning, striking out two with one hit. 
 
UTRGV hosts Houston Baptist on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. 

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