NACOGDOCHES – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team scored four runs in the ninth to come from behind and beat the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 5-2 to close out the regular season on Saturday at Jaycees Field.
The 'Jacks (15-37, 8-22 WAC) carried a 2-1 lead into the ninth. Graduate student
Brett Cain drew a leadoff walk against
Brooks Caple (0-4). One out later, graduate student
Jacob Hirsh walked. Junior
Chris Mondesi followed with an RBI-single to tie the game and then junior
Raul Ortega hit a go-ahead RBI-single. After a fielder's choice put runners on the corners with two outs, the Vaqueros took advantage of a stolen base and three wild pitches to score Mondesi and junior
Diego Ramirez to make the score 5-2.
Ortega finished 2-for-3.
That made a winner of graduate student
Ricky Gerik Jr. (5-3), who pitched a scoreless eighth.
Sophomore
Zach Tjelmeland struck out the side in a perfect ninth for his second save. Tjelmeland has now struck out a season-high tying three in three-straight outings.
The Vaqueros (32-23, 17-13 WAC) scored their first run in the seventh as with one out, Hirsh singled to left. He then drew a pickoff throw that sailed away, allowing Hirsh to go all the way to third. Mondesi followed with an RBI-groundout to bring the Vaqueros within 2-1.
That was it against
Joe Todd, who pitched 7.0 innings allowing four hits without a walk while striking out two.
Freshman
Randy Garza didn't allow a hit over the first 3.0 innings. In the fourth, though, the 'Jacks started with a walk and two singles, the second of which, by
Peyton Parker, brought home
Cameron Crawford for the game's first run.
That led to the 'Jacks having runners on the corners. Crawford took off for second, and when the throw went through,
Clayton Loranger stole home to make the score 2-0.
UTRGV opens the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the Southwest Division #3 seed and will face West Division #2 seed Sacramento State in the opening round on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's, in Mesa, Ariz. Fans can watch in the United States on
ESPN+ or internationally at
WACSports.com/Watch.
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