STEPHENVILLE – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball closed out the regular season with a 4-2 victory over the Tarleton State Texans on Sunday at Tarleton State Baseball Complex.
UTRGV advances to the Lamar Bracket of the Southland Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed facing No. 6 seed Northwestern State Thursday at 1 p.m. The winner faces the winner of No. 2 Lamar and No. 7 Stephen F. Austin Friday at 6 p.m. while the losers of each game Thursday play an elimination game Friday at 1 p.m. All games of the Southland Conference Tournament are available on
ESPN+.
In this game, junior
Easton Moomau led the Vaqueros (26-27) offensively by going 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and two runs scored.
Moomau led off the second with a 419' home run to center to put the Vaqueros up 1-0. It was Moomau's sixth home run of the season.
Moomau started a two-run rally in the sixth with a single. The Vaqueros went on to load the bases with two outs, setting up a two-run double by junior
Rocco Garza Gongora to put the Vaqueros up 4-1. It was Garza Gongora's 19
th double of the season, tied with
Ivan Estrella (2017) and
Osiel Flors (2007) for the second-highest single-season total in program history. The program record of 23 is held by
Garrett Bivone (2010).
The Texans (33-17) tied the game at 1 in the fourth when
Slade McCloud drew a leadoff walk from sophomore
Mason Engel (1-1), stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a
Cage McCloud sacrifice fly.
In the fifth, though, senior
Rene Galván drew a leadoff walk from
Ashton Bassett (1-4). Graduate student Vela alum
Rudy Gonzalez followed with a single. One out later, senior
Thomas Williams hit a grounder to the right side. The throw to second sailed into left field, allowing Galván to score to put the Vaqueros up 2-1.
The Texans pulled within 4-2 in the seventh when
Rayner Heinrich drew a bases loaded walk.
Freshman
Augie Grohman pitched 2.0 scoreless innings for his first-career save.
Senior Los Fresnos alum
Víctor Loa started and struck out three in 2.0 scoreless innings.
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