RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team opened the 2026 season with a 7-4 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a sellout crowd of 5,862, the sixth-largest in program history and the largest on opening day.
Senior
Thomas Williams led the Vaqueros (1-0) offensively by going 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, a walk, two RBI and two runs scored. Junior
Chayton Fischer finished 2-for-2 with a hit by pitch and a run scored.
After
Dominic Voegele (0-1) struck out the first four Vaqueros he faced, but with one out in the second, junior PSJA alum
Julius Ramirez singled and then, with the infield over-shifted to the right, Fischer bunted to the left for a single. Williams drew an 11-pitch walk to load the bases. One out later, senior
Damien Whitfield walked, junior
Rocco Garza Gongora was plunked, and graduate student PSJA alum
Diego Villescas and junior
Armani Raygoza walked to force-in runs, putting the Vaqueros up 4-2.
Williams homered to left in the third to put the Vaqueros up 5-2.
After allowing hits to the first two batters he faced, senior
Anthony Garcia struck out four in a row while retiring seven of eight. With the bases clean and two down in the fourth, though,
Jordan Bach and
Brady Ballinger hit doubles to bring in a run.
Augusto Mungarrieta then reached on an infield single. The throw to first got away, allowing another run to score, bringing the Jayhawks (0-1) within 5-4.
The Vaqueros got those runs back in the fifth when Raygoza led off with a home run, and then, with two on and one out, Williams hit an RBI-double to make the score 7-4.
Sophomore
Harrison Thayer (1-0) made the runs stand up, pitching 5.0 scoreless innings of relief to finish the game, striking out three while allowing two hits and one walk.
The Jayhawks got on the board immediately, as on the second pitch of the game, Bach homered.
In the second, Bach added an infield RBI-single to put the Jayhawks up 2-0.
Bach finished 4-for-5, a triple short of the cycle.
UTRGV and Kansas play the middle game of the series on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. for Pack the Park during
#RallyTheValley Week, presented by McAllen International Airport. The top three most spirited fans will win a prize, courtesy of Vaquero Outfitters. Whataburger will be passing out coupons while supplies last. There will be a Southern Roots flower bar and photo opportunity on the concourse.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
UTRGVTickets.com. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with a digital ticket that can be acquired at
GoUTRGV.com/StudentTickets while also showing their student ID. Fans can learn more about game day, including parking information, maps, and the clear bag policy, by visiting
RallyTheValley.com.
Fans can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
Southland International.
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