LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team beat the New Mexico State University Aggies 8-4 in the middle game of a three-game series on Saturday at Presley Askew Field.
The Vaqueros (11-11, 2-6 WAC) used a pair of two-out RBI-singles to take an early 2-0 lead against
Pablo Cortes (1-2), with junior
Kade York coming through in the second and graduate student
Montclair Cain following suit in the third.
Junior
Angelo Cabral (4-0) retired six of the first seven batters he faced. With one out in the third, though,
Preston Godfrey homered to bring the Aggies (4-16, 2-6 WAC) within 2-1.
The Vaqueros got that run back in the fourth. Junior
Adrian Torres drew a four-pitch, leadoff walk. A bad pickoff throw allowed Torres to move to third, from where he scored on a groundout by senior Vela alum
RJ Ochoa to make the score 3-1.
Nick Gore homered in the fifth to bring the Aggies within a run before junior PSJA alum
Jacob Sanchez answered with a home run of his own in the sixth to put the Vaqueros up 4-2.
Cabral pitched a career-high 6.2 innings, striking out four while allowing four hits and two walks.
The last batter Cabral faced,
Keith Jones II, doubled.
Nick Gore welcomed senior
Alex Verdugo with an RBI-double to make the score 4-3. Verdugo responded by retiring the next six hitters he faced, striking out four, while pitching 2.1 innings for his first-career save.
The Vaqueros added four insurance runs in the ninth when Ochoa hit an RBI-double, senior
Zerek Saenz and junior
Erick Martinez hit RBI-singles, and Sanchez drew a bases-loaded walk.
York finished 2-for-3 with an RBI while senior
Roberto Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
The Aggies completed the scoring in the ninth on a two-out RBI-single by Jones.
UTRGV and New Mexico State complete this three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. Fans can watch online via
WAC International.
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