RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team clinched a series victory by beating the New Orleans Privateers 8-6 on Saturday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 4,121.
Junior PSJA alum
Julius Ramirez led the Vaqueros (7-8, 2-3 SLC) offensively by going 2-for-4 with a home run and a career-high four RBI. Junior
Easton Moomau went 2-for-3 with a career-high two doubles and a run scored. Senior
Thomas Williams finished 3-for-3 with a triple, a walk, an RBI, and a run scored. Junior
Rocco Garza Gongora went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
The Vaqueros scratched across a run in the first against
Reid Leonard (0-3), as with runners on second and third and two outs, a passed ball brought home junior
Armani Raygoza to make the score 1-0.
The Privateers' (6-9, 1-4 SLC) responded in the third with a two-out RBI-single by
Owen Smith off sophomore
Harrison Thayer (3-1) to tie the game.
In the bottom of the third, though, Ramirez belted a two-run home run to center. Moomau followed with a double and then Williams hit an RBI-triple to make the score 4-1.
In the fourth, the Vaqueros put two on with two out to setup a Ramirez RBI-single to make the score 5-1.
Kruise Newman hit a three-run home run in the seventh to bring the Privateers within one.
That was it against Thayer, who struck out a career-high six in 6.1 innings of walk-free ball. He allowed six hits. After the third hit, Thayer retired 10 in a row.
The Vaqueros got those runs back over the next two innings, as in the bottom of the seventh, senior
Hank Warren hit an RBI-single, and in the eighth, an error scored a run and a Ramirez sacrifice fly brought home another to make the score 8-4.
Newman hit a two-run home run in the ninth, but junior Sharyland alum
Kike Cienfuegos came in and struck out both batters he faced to earn his first save.
UTRGV and New Orleans conclude this series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Every Sunday is Family Fun Day, during which fans can get four general admission tickets, four drinks, and four hot dogs for $44. It's Community Heroes Day, presented by Driscoll Children's Hospital. UTRGV Athletics donated 200 tickets to the Veteran Tickets Foundation, including 100 for
Vet Tix and 100 for
1st Tix, that can be claimed by veterans, serving and retired law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, nurses and 911 dispatchers that can be claimed for free during the week leading up to this game. It's also Texas Regional Bank Card Day. Fans that bring their Vaqueros Debit Card from Texas Regional Bank will receive free general admission to the game.
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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