BEAUMONT – No. 3 The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team fell to the host and No. 2 Lamar Cardinals 3-2 on Friday at Vincent-Beck Stadium, ending the Vaqueros' run in the Southland Conference Tournament.
Senior
Thomas Williams led the Vaqueros (26-29) offensively by going 2-for-2 with a season-high tying three walks and an RBI. Graduate student
Diego Villescas finished 2-for-4.
Hector Rodriguez led off the second with a high chopper to the left side of the infield for a single off sophomore
Harrison Thayer (6-4). Rodriguez stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a sacrifice fly on the 13
th pitch of an at-bat by
Brayden Evans to put the Cardinals (29-25) up 1-0.
The Vaqueros tied the game in the third as with one out, graduate student Vela alum
Rudy Gonzalez doubled off
Chris Olivier (6-4). After a groundout moved Gonzalez to third, Williams hit an RBI-single to tie the game a 1.
That was it until the sixth, when the Cardinals put runners on the corners with nobody out to knock out Thayer. Junior La Joya alum
JC Gutierrez came in and got
AJ Taylor to hit a groundball to short. The Vaqueros were unable to get the runner at home, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Thayer struck out two without walking anybody while allowing two runs on five hits in 5.0 innings.
With a runner at second and two outs in the seventh,
Beau Durbin hit an RBI-single to extend the Cardinals' lead to 3-1.
The Vaqueros got one back in the eighth, as with runners at second and third and one out, junior
Andrew Taylor hit an RBI-groundout to make the score 3-2.
Julius Carpio pitched 2.0 innings for his third save.
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