HUNTSVILLE – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team recorded a season-high 26 hits, the second-highest single-game total in program history, to earn a series victory over the Sam Houston Bearkats by winning the rubber game 13-6 on Sunday at Don Sanders Stadium.
The 26 hits are the most for the program since recording a program record 27 hits at Northern Colorado on May 11, 2009.
All nine Vaqueros (16-11, 6-6 WAC) in the starting lineup had multiple hits, with eight recording at least one RBI and eight scoring at least one run. The Vaqueros finished with 26 hits in 48 at-bats (.542), including eight doubles by six players. Junior
Brandon Pimentel went 4-for-6 with a career-high tying two doubles and two runs scored. Graduate student
Brett Cain finished a career-high 4-for-6 with a career-high two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Graduate student
Cameron Blake went a career-high tying 3-for-6 with a double, three RBI and a run scored. Junior
Diego Ramirez went a career-high tying 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Graduate student
DeAndre' Shelton went a career-high 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Graduate student
Freddy Rojas Jr. finished 2-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore PSJA alum
Jacob Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a double, a career-high tying two walks, an RBI and two runs scored. Graduate student
Bryan Sturges finished 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored. Sturges is now 19-for-38 (.500) during a nine-game hitting streak. Freshman Vela alum
Isaac Lopez posted his second multi-hit game of the series, finishing a career-high tying 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Down 1-0 after the first, the Vaqueros scored the next three runs, with two in the second on a Shelton double and a Lopez bunt-single, and one in the third on a Rojas sacrifice fly against
Matt Dillard (3-2).
The Bearkats (16-12, 7-5 WAC) tied the game in the third on singles by
Justin Wishkoski and
Carlos Contrerasagainst junior
Jesus Aldaz (3-3) before a Blake single put the Vaqueros up 4-3 in the fourth.
The Bearkats tied the game at 4 in the bottom of the inning, but the Vaqueros put up six runs in the fifth. The first four batters of the inning had hits, including an RBI-single by Sanchez and an RBI-double by Cain. Shelton followed with a sacrifice fly. One batter later, Blake hit an RBI-double and Ramirez hit an RBI-single. Then, after a Pimentel single, Sturges singled up the middle to drive-in a run and cap the inning with the Vaqueros up 10-4.
The Bearkats got one back in the sixth, but Rojas launched a two-run home run in the seventh, his fifth of the season, to put the Vaqueros up 12-5.
After the Bearkats added one more run in the bottom of the seventh, Blake came up with an RBI-single in the eighth to push the Vaqueros' lead to 13-6.
Junior
J.C. Ariza pitched the final three innings for his first-career save.
UTRGV is back in action on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at #8 Texas in a game that will be televised on Longhorn Network.
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