NACOGDOCHES – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team closed out the regular season with a 3-game sweep of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, winning the finale 16-5 in eight innings on Saturday at Jaycees Field.
The Vaqueros (29-24, 15-14 WAC) open the Western Athletic Conference Tournament against No. 6 UT Arlington on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's. All games will be broadcast domestically on
ESPN+ and internationally via
WAC International.
UTRGV is now 11-10 on the road, making this the first time UTRGV has posted a winning record on the road since 2000 (8-7-1). UTRGV finishes WAC play with a 9-6 road record, marking the second-straight season in which UTRGV has had a winning road record in WAC play after going 8-7 last season.
Graduate student
Brandon Pimentel extended his career program record home run total to 30 with a solo shot in the second.
Pimentel now has 18 home runs this season, the third-highest single-season total in program history behind only Hall of Famer
Mitchell Moran (20, 1983) and
Jesse Gutierrez (21, 2000).
Pimentel finished 3-for-3 with a home run, a walk, four RBI and two runs scored. Junior
Adrian Torres went 2-for-2 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Junior
Kade York finished 2-for-2 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore
Erick Martinez went 2-for-4 with his first home run, a walk, two RBI and two runs scored. Junior PSJA alum
Jacob Sanchez finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
The Vaqueros knocked out Lumberjacks (22-28, 12-18 WAC) starter
Cade Stapleton (1-8) three batters into the game, as senior
Zerek Saenz doubled, sophomore Vela alum
Isaac Lopez was hit by a pitch, and Pimentel hit an RBI-single. One out later, graduate student
Montclair Cain hit an RBI-single. Then, with two outs, Torres launched a 3-run home run, his fourth of the season, and York belted a solo shot, his third of the season, to make the score 6-0.
Pimentel homered with one out in the second. One out after that, Cain walked and Sanchez singled. Torres followed with an RBI-single and then York hit a 2-run single. After Martinez walked and Saenz was plunked to load the bases, Lopez walked to force-in a run and Pimentel capped the 7-run inning with a 2-run single to make the score 13-0.
Sanchez added an RBI-single in the fifth to put the Vaqueros up 14-1.
Martinez blasted a 2-run home run in the eighth to make the score 16-5.
Sophomore
Randy Garza (3-3) started and pitched 2.0 hitless innings, striking out three. The only baserunner reached on an error.
Junior Vela alum
Nico Rodriguez struck out two in a scoreless fourth.
Sophomore
Bobby Loya struck out the side in a hitless sixth.
The Lumberjacks scored in the third on a
Cal Martin RBI-single, the fifth on an
Alex Rodgers home run, and the seventh on a
Barrett Rose 2-run home run and a
Scout Sanders solo shot.
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