RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Graduate student
Jesus Aldaz dominated in his first Friday night start to lead The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team to an 10-0, seven-inning opening night victory over the Houston Christian University Huskies on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,876.
Aldaz (1-0) retired the first seven batters he faced while striking out six and allowing just two singles and one walk in 5.0 innings.
Huskies (0-1) started
Rye Gunter (0-1) matched Aldaz pitch for pitch over the first four innings, meaning the Vaqueros (1-0) needed to score in the bottom of the fifth to make Aldaz eligible for the win.
Sophomore
Steven Lancia worked a six-pitch walk to start the fifth. Then, after a sacrifice bunt, senior
Zerek Saenz hit an RBI-double, sophomore Vela alum
Isaac Lopez hit an RBI-single, graduate student
Montclair Cain walked, sophomore PSJA alum
Jacob Sanchez hit an RBI-double, graduate student
Brandon Pimentel hit an RBI-single, and then senior
Roberto Gonzalez singled to load the bases. One out later, Lancia drew a bases-loaded walk to cap the inning with the Vaqueros up 5-0.
The Vaqueros added three more runs in the sixth on a Cain sacrifice fly, a Gonzalez RBI-single, and a wild pitch that scored Pimentel.
Then, in the seventh, the Vaqueros loaded the bases with one out, setting up a walk-off two-run double by Cain, who finished with three RBI.
Pimentel reached base four times, drawing a career-high three walks. Lopez went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a career-high three runs scored. Gonzalez finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Junior Vela alum
Nico Rodriguez made his UTRGV debut, striking out three in 2.0 scoreless innings of relief.
The Vaqueros and Huskies play the middle game of this three-game series on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at
UTRGVTickets.com. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy, details of which can be found at
GoUTRGV.com/ClearBag. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.
Fans unable to attend in person can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
WAC International.
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