MESA, Ariz. – No. 7 The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team fell to the No. 4 California Baptist University Lancers 15-9 in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament elimination game on Friday at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Oakland A's.
Graduate student
Adrian Torres led the Vaqueros (29-25) by going 2-for-2 with two walks, a hit by pitch, a 3-run home run and three runs scored. Torres finished the WAC Tournament 11-for-16 with a home run, two doubles, three walks, five RBI, six runs scored, and three stolen bases while hitting .688/.750/1.000 in four games. Junior Vela alum
Isaac Lopez went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Junior
Steven Lancia finished 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored.
The Lancers (36-23) jumped on senior
Tyler Valdez (3-4) in the first, as with two on and one out,
Josh Paino hit an RBI-single and
Julian Alvarez laid down a suicide squeeze to make the score 2-0.
With two outs in the bottom of the inning, though, junior Sharyland alum
Martin Vazquez singled and graduate student
CJ Valdez drew a 7-pitch walk. That set the stage for Torres to launch a go-ahead 3-run home run that left the bat a 98 miles per hour and traveled 380 feet. Lancia singled on the next pitch and then Lopez singled to set-up a 2-run double by junior
Hank Warren that put the Vaqueros up 5-2.
The Lancers got one back in the second on an RBI-ground out by
Shayne Simpson to make the score 5-3.
In the third, the first seven Lancers reached on six hits and a walk, including an RBI-single by
Mitchel Simon, an RBI-double by Alvarez, an RBI-single by
Matthew Darr, a 2-run triple by
Michael Carpentier, and an RBI-double by
Connor McGuire. One out later, with McGuire at third,
Garret Ostrander hit a sacrifice fly to cap the inning with the Lancers up 10-5.
Junior
Aaron Sanchez halted the Lancers offense by pitching 3.0 scoreless innings of relief.
In the sixth, though, Darr hit a 2-out RBI-single to put the Lancers up 11-5.
The Lancers loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, setting up a 3-run double by Simon to make the score 14-5.
That made a winner of
Ryan Hetzler (5-1), who recorded the final out of the first to end the Vaqueros' rally and went on to pitch 6.0 innings of relief.
The Vaqueros knocked out Hetzler in the bottom of the seventh, putting two on with two out to set up RBI-singles by Lancia and Lopez, making the score 14-7.
Junior
Anthony Tejada struck out a career-high seven in a career-high 2.2 innings of relief.
The Lancers added a run in the ninth on a Simon RBI-single.
Lancia hit a 2-run home run with two outs in the ninth, finishing the season with four home runs.
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