RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team completed the two-game sweep of the Texas Southern Tigers with an 10-4 victory on Wednesday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 2,054.
The Vaqueros (5-8) trailed 3-2 with one out in the sixth when senior
Ethan Edinger walked. Senior
Hank Warren and junior
Rocco Garza Gongora then hit singles against
Landyn Grant (0-2) to tie the game. Juniors
Armani Raygoza, PSJA alum
Julius Ramirez, and
Easton Moomau followed with walks to force-in two runs. One out later, junior
Chayton Fischer hit a two-run single to put the Vaqueros up 7-3.
Fischer finished 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and three RBI. Garza Gongora went 2-for-6 with a double, two RBI, and two runs scored. Ramirez finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two RBI, and two runs scored. Moomau went 2-for-3 with two walks, two RBI, and a run scored.
Junior Edinburg alum
Daren Barrera (1-1) took the mound in the sixth and retired the first five batters he faced. With two outs in the seventh, though, Barrera plunked
Tanner Marek who scored on an RBI-double by
Christopher Chavez.
Barrera struck out three while allowing one hit in 2.0 innings.
The Vaqueros got that run back in the bottom of the seventh as senior
Hank Warren hit a one-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Garza Gongora double. One out later, Ramirez hit an RBI-single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Moomau RBI-single to make the score 10-4.
Junior
Ruben Gonzalez struck out two in a hitless eighth, senior
Nick Nolan struck out the lone batter he faced, and sophomore
Stephen Sepulveda recorded the final two outs to close out the game.
Senior
Wyatt Wiatrek and
Collin Dennis matched each other pitch for pitch over the first three innings.
The Tigers (5-6) broke through in the fourth, putting runners at second and third with one out. A wild pitch scored
Byron Robinson and then
Jonathan Trejo hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0.
The Vaqueros answered back in the bottom of the inning, as after a leadoff walk by Moomau, senior
Thomas Williams doubled down the left field line and Fischer doubled down the right field line to tie the game at 2.
The Tigers took the lead in the fifth when Marek singled, stole second, and used errors to advance two more bases to make the score 3-2.
Wiatrek pitched 5.0 innings, striking out five while allowing four hits and one walk.
UTRGV opens a three-game Southland Conference series against New Orleans Friday at 6:30 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium for superhero and educators appreciation night, presented by H-E-B. Fans wearing a superhero costume or shirt and PK-12 teachers, staff, and administrators with a school ID get free general admission. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive sunglasses courtesy of H-E-B.
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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