RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team, the No. 2 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament which is receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls for the 10
th week in a row, opened bracket play, presented by Payne Auto Group, with an 11-8 victory over the No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Thursday in front of a crowd of 3,215, the program's 23
rd largest crowd since moving into UTRGV Baseball Stadium in 2002 and 12
th largest of the season.
UTRGV extends its program record season attendance to 76,380 across 24 dates, an average of 3,183 per date.
UTRGV advances to the bracket play semifinals against No. 6 Houston Christian University, which beat No. 3 Lamar 6-3 earlier in the day, on Thursday at 6 p.m. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi faces Lamar in an elimination game at 1 p.m.
All-tournament and single-session passes are on sale now and can be purchased at
UTRGVTickets.com. Current students of the participating Southland institutions 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. Fans can find a full list of game day information at
RallyTheValley.com. Gates open at 12 p.m.
Fans can watch all games domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
Southland International.
Senior
Seven Lancia led the Vaqueros (35-16) offensively by going 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and a career-high tying three runs scored. Graduate student Vela alum
Isaac Lopez went 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. Junior
Thomas Williams went 2-for-3 with two walks and a grand slam for a career-high tying four RBI. It was Williams' first-career grand slam and his ninth home run of the season. The Vaqueros now have three grand slams this season, all coming in the last eight games. Sophomore
Easton Moomau went 2-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Graduate student PSJA alum
Jacob Sanchez went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Sophomore
Armani Raygoza finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Junior
Steven Oliva (2-2) was clutch in relief, pitching a career-high 4.0 innings, striking out three while allowing just three hits and one walk for the win.
The Vaqueros trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the second. That's when sophomore
Evan Janner hit a 2-run home run to get the Vaqueros on the board.
Lancia scored on a wild pitch in the fourth to bring the Vaqueros within 4-3.
In the fifth, the Vaqueros loaded the bases with two outs, setting up Williams' grand slam on a 1-2 pitch to give the Vaqueros a 7-4 lead.
The Islanders (20-30) tied the game in the top of the sixth, as after the first three batters walked,
Drake Kerr hit a 2-run single and then purposely got caught stealing to allow the third run to score.
In the bottom of the inning, though, after
David Dean (2-5) retired the first two batters, Lopez drew a four-pitch walk and Raygoza reached on an infield-single. The next three batters drove-in runs, as Sanchez and Moomau hit RBI-singles and Lancia hit a 2-run single to put the Vaqueros up 11-7.
The Islanders added a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by
Jackson Smith.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead in the first on a 2-out error. In the second, Kerr drew a bases loaded walk and
Isaac Webb hit a 2-run single to put the Islanders up 4-0.
Support UTRGV Baseball |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
