HUNTSVILLE – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team beat the Sam Houston Bearkats 10-4 in the opener of a three-game series on Friday at Don Sanders Stadium.
Graduate student
Bryan Sturges led the Vaqueros (15-10, 5-5 WAC) offensively by going 3-for-5 with a double, three RBI and a run scored. It was Sturges' third 3-hit game of the season, all of which have come during a 7-game hitting streak. During that span, Sturges is hitting .536 (15-for-28). Graduate student
Cameron Blake also drove-in three runs while going 2-for-6 with a double and a run scored. Freshman Vela alum
Isaac Lopez posted his first-career multi-hit game, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Sophomore PSJA alum
Jacob Sanchez reached base a career-high tying four times, going 2-for-3 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored. Junior
Diego Ramirez went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a career-high tying two runs scored. In his first game against his former team, graduate student
DeAndre' Shelton, who played for Sam Houston in 2020, went a career-high tying 2-for-5 with a double and a career-high tying two runs scored.
The Vaqueros fell behind 2-0 in the first and then scored in six-straight innings, starting with a Sanchez RBI-single against
Cole Wesneski (3-3) in the second.
Then, down 3-1 in the third, Sturges hit a two-run single to tie the game.
The Vaqueros took the lead in the fourth on a Lopez RBI-single. Blake followed with an RBI-fielder's choice and then Ramirez hit an RBI-single to make the score 6-3.
The Vaqueros extended their lead to 8-3 on an RBI-groundout by graduate student
Brett Cain in the fifth and a Sturges RBI-single in the sixth.
Blake hit a two-run double in the seventh to put the Vaqueros up 10-4.
That made a winner of senior
Kevin Stevens (3-2), who struck out two while allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks in 5.0 innings.
The Bearkats (15-11, 6-4 WAC) scored twice in the first on a two-run single by
Myles Jefferson. Then, with runners on the corners,
Luke Repka hit a fly ball to deep center, but Cain tracked it down with a leaping catch near the wall to end the inning.
Justin Wishkoski hit an RBI-single with two outs in the second, after which Stevens settled down to retire eight in a row.
In the fifth, however, the Bearkats loaded the bases with two outs. Repka hit a chopper up the middle. Lopez came running from the shortstop position and slid to glove the ball on the first base side of second. He then got to his feet and made a perfect throw to first to end the inning.
The Bearkats added a run in the sixth on an RBI-groundout by
Clayton Chadwick.
Senior
Ricky Gerik Jr. took over from there, striking out a career-high five in a career-high tying 3.1 innings of scoreless relief for his fourth save.
UTRGV and Sam Houston play the middle game of this three-game series on Saturday at 3 p.m. Fans can watch in the United States on
ESPN+ or internationally at
WACSports.com/Watch.
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