RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team dropped the series opener to the Grand Canyon Lopes 5-3 on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,789.
In his first NCAA Division I start, junior
Francisco Hernandez pitched a career-high 7.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out two. He threw 60 of his 92 pitches (65.2%) for strikes.
After allowing a run on an error in the first and another on a one-out double by
Tyler Wilson in the third, Hernandez retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced, including 10 in a row at one point.
In the eighth, however, the Lopes (12-9, 6-1 WAC) loaded the bases with nobody out against junior
Aaron Sanchez (0-3). The runs came up home on an
Eddy Pelc sacrifice fly, a wild pitch, and an
Alton Gyselman groundout to put the Lopes up 5-3.
Walter Quinn (1-2) pitched 2.0 scoreless innings for the win.
Nathan Ward pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.
The Vaqueros (11-9, 1-3 WAC) scored all their runs with one out in the first. Senior
Adrian Torres singled and then junior Sharyland alum
Martin Vazquez belted a 2-run home run, his sixth of the season. Junior
Steven Lancia followed with a 7-pitch walk and then graduate student
CJ Valdez doubled. Junior
Hank Warren capped the inning with an RBI-single to make the score 3-1.
Valdez finished 2-for-4.
UTRGV and Grand Canyon play the middle game of this series Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on Swiftie Night. Fans can make their own UTRGV friendship bracelets while enjoying Taylor Swift songs.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
GoUTRGV.com/Tickets. 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 can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
WAC International. The game will also be televised in Spanish on Vallevisión Channel 8 (XHAB).
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