HOUSTON – Playing its seventh-straight game against Big 12 competition to open the season, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team beat the Big 12's Houston Cougars 8-4 on Sunday at Schroeder Park to earn a 2-1 series victory.
This is the second-straight season in which the Vaqueros (3-4) have won three games against Big 12 competition. This is the third time the Vaqueros have won three games against Big 12 competition during head coach
Derek Matlock's nine seasons, with the other time coming in 2019. The Vaqueros won conference championships in both 2025 and 2019. The last time UTRGV won more games against Big 12 competition was 2002 (four).
The Vaqueros have now won six of their last eight against the Cougars (5-2). The Vaqueros are 5-2 against the Cougars since the Cougars joined the Big 12 in 2023.
With the game tied at 2 in the ninth, the Vaqueros loaded the bases with one out against
Tyler Bryan (0-1). Junior PSJA alum
Julius Ramirez hit a 2-run single. After a single by junior
Easton Moomau reloaded the bases, senior
Thomas Williams hit a 2-run single. Graduate student Vela alum
Rudy Gonzalez walked to again load the bases, setting up a 2-run single by graduate student PSJA alum
Diego Villescas to give the Vaqueros an 8-2 lead.
Ramirez finished 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI, and two runs scored. Williams went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Junior
Rocco Garza Gongora also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
That made a winner of senior Sharyland alum
Kike Cienfuegos (1-0), who pitched the final 3.2 innings. The runs against Cienfuegos came in the ninth on a solo home run by
Jackson LaLima and a wild pitch that scored
Irvin Weems.
The Vaqueros put two on with two in the first. Williams sliced a single to left, scoring Ramirez from second. The throw to third to try to hold the runners went into the Houston dugout, allowing Moomau to score to put the Vaqueros up 2-0.
Sophomore
Mason Engel retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced. In the fourth, though,
Antonelli Savattere hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on a single by
Blake Fields to make the score 2-1.
Engel struck out three while allowing three singles and a walk in 3.2 innings.
The Cougars tied the game in the sixth as with Fields at second and one out,
Tre Boussard hit an RBI-double to right center.
UTRGV concludes this eight-game stretch against power conference opponents by visiting No. 3 Texas on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in a game that can be seen on
SEC Network+.
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