SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team scored four runs in the ninth to beat the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals 15-12 on Tuesday at Sullivan Field.
Down 12-11 entering the ninth, graduate student
Montclair Cain launched a no-doubt home run to right off
Steve Hayward (4-3) to tie the game. The next three Vaqueros (20-15) reached to load the bases, setting up a go-ahead walk by junior
Kade York. Two outs later, graduate student
Brandon Pimentel hit a 2-run single to give the Vaqueros a 15-12 lead.
Cain finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Pimentel went 2-for-5 with a walk and two RBI. During a 13-game hitting streak, Pimentel is now hitting .448 (26-for-58) with 25 RBI.
Junior Vela alum
Nico Rodriguez struck out two in a perfect ninth for his second save.
Cain's home run was his fourth of the season and one of four hit by the Vaqueros in the game.
Sophomore Vela alum
Isaac Lopez recorded his first-career multi-home run game, including a solo shot in the first to put the Vaqueros up 1-0 and another in the fifth to put the Vaqueros up 4-2. Lopez now has eight home runs this season.
Sophomore
Steven Lancia hit a two-out home run on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game at 2 in the top of the second. It was Lancia's fifth home run of the season.
Lopez finished 3-for-6 with two RBI and a career-high tying two runs scored. Lancia went a career-high tying 2-for-4 with two RBI and a career-high three runs scored.
Junior
Adrian Torres gave the Vaqueros a 3-2 lead in the fourth with a two-out RBI-single.
Torres finished a career-high 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored.
The Cardinals (20-16) got on the board in the bottom of the first on an RBI-single by
Jimmy DeLeon and a bases loaded walk by
Cameron Crotte that made the score 2-1.
That was it for the Cardinals until the fifth, when the Cardinals loaded the bases with nobody out, setting up a two-run single by DeLeon and an RBI-single by
Tony DeJesus.
Warren Laster followed by driving in a run with a fielder's choice to give the Cardinals a 6-4 lead.
In the sixth, the Vaqueros put runners on the corners with one out. With Lancia at the plate, the runner at first, Torres, took off, causing the second baseman to head to the bag, opening a hole through which Lancia drove an RBI-single to right. York followed with a safety squeeze to tie the game and then senior
Zerek Saenz hit an RBI-single to put the Vaqueros up 7-6.
Hernan Yanez restored the Cardinals' lead with a 2-run home run that made the score 8-7 in the bottom of the inning.
In the seventh, the Vaqueros put runners on the corners with one out. A wild pitch scored senior
Roberto Gonzalez and then Torres hit an RBI-single. Torres moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball before scoring on another wild pitch to put the Vaqueros up 10-8.
Pimentel grounded into a double play to bring home Saenz in the seventh, putting the Vaqueros up 11-8.
The Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the eighth on a bases-loaded walk by Yanez and a 2-run single by
Rey Mendoza. Then, with Yanez at third and one out, junior
Zach Tjelmeland (2-1) threw a wild pitch to bring home Yanez and give the Cardinals a 12-11 lead.
UTRGV returns home to host Abilene Christian, a team receiving votes in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, for a 3-game series starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Friday is the Cane's Challenge, which rewards fans with a buy one, get one free coupon for a box combo at Raising Cane's if the Vaqueros win.
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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