SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team split their doubleheader with the Houston Christian University Huskies falling 11-10 in 13 innings on Saturday at Sullivan Field.
 
The loss snaps the Vaqueros (17-13) five-game winning streak. The Huskies (6-22) got their rally in the 13th inning against junior and Vela alum Nico Rodriguez (0-2) started with a walk to Connor Fermin and then Austin Roccaforte followed with a single that put runners on the corners for Samuel Benjamin, who delivered the walk-off single snapping the 10-10 tie.
 
The Vaqueros got the scoring started as they took the lead in the top of the first against HCU starter Will Ripoll. With two outs in the inning, graduate student Montclair Cain delivered an RBI single that scored redshirt sophomore and Vela alum Isaac Lopez from second for the 1-0 lead.
 
The Huskies (5-22) answered in the bottom of the first against UTRGV starter Colten Davis as they got a two-out RBI single from Tyler LaRue that tied it at 1-1. 
 
After junior Kade York reached on a one-out single in the top of the second, senior Zerek Saenz drove him in with an RBI double giving the Vaqueros the 2-1 lead but the Huskies got a two-run single from Austin Roccaforte to take the 3-2 through two innings. 
 
The Vaqueros put up six runs in the top of the fourth against on a trio of home runs. Redshirt junior Adrian Torres knocked Ripoll out of the game after hitting a solo home run to tie it at 3-3. Graduate student and Vela alum RJ Ochoa greeted reliever Walker Zander with a single and then moved to third before Saenz drove him in with an RBI single. Lopez then reached on a fielder's choice and graduate student Brandon Pimentel hit a three-run home run making it 7-3. Cain then put the finishing touches on the scoring for the Vaqueros with a solo home run, his second of the season, giving UTRGV the 8-3 lead.
 
The Huskies answered right back in the bottom of the fourth as they loaded the bases for LaRue who then delivered a grand slam to get back within 8-7. 
 
Saenz extended the Vaqueros lead with a solo home run in the top of the sixth making it 9-7. It was Saenz's third homer of the season.
 
HCU got one run back on a solo home run by Benjamin in the bottom of the sixth off of graduate student Jesus Aldaz and then rallied in the bottom of the ninth to tie it at 9-9 on a sacrifice fly by Cash Benavidez.
 
In the 11^th, the Vaqueros took the lead once again as Ochoa drove in Torres with a two-out double but the Huskies Dylan LaRue evened things up at 10-10 with a solo home run setting up the 13^th inning.
 
The Vaqueros will be back in action on April 11 when they visit the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union at 6 p.m. at Champan Field.

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