EDINBURG — UTRGV baseball made light work of a Houston Christian team coached by former Houston Astros and New York Yankees player Lance Berkman with a sweep in its season-opening series last week.
On deck was a No. 27-ranked Central Michigan squad, according to last week’s Collegiate Baseball Division I Poll, coming to the Valley for a five-game series from Tuesday through Sunday.
After playing even through the first four head-to-head matchups, the Vaqueros broke the tie with a convincing 8-1 victory over the Chippewas in Sunday’s series finale at UTRGV Baseball Stadium to win the series 3-2. The Vaqueros are now 6-2 overall.
“There were some really negative moments no doubt with our defense, but that stuff’s going to happen to you,” UTRGV head coach Derek Matlock said about errors in the two losses in the series. “We lost two games because we couldn’t pick the ball up, and that’s the pride of this program. We led the WAC in defense last year, we take pride in that. This field here, it ain’t easy to play on. It’s a dirt field, it’s older, got a few lips and we take pride in playing here and we didn’t do a good job and we got to get it fixed. We played a clean game today, threw strikes and that gives us a chance to win the game. What a good job by the whole team, offense from the top of the lineup to the bottom, just great pitching.”
Trailing 1-0 during the top of the fifth inning, UTRGV middle infielders Isaac Lopez and Kade York teamed up for the play of the game. The second baseman Lopez made a diving stop to his right and flipped the ball from his glove while on his stomach to the shortstop York for the tag at second. York caught it with his bare hand and threw to Brandon Pimentel at first base in time for the inning-ending double play.
“That was routine for us,” York said with a smile.
In the bottom half of that same inning, the Vaqueros offense broke through.
Incarnate Word transfer Roberto Gonzalez singled to lead off the fifth, moved to second on a wild pitch and took third on a groundout. York then brought him in with a base hit up the middle to tie the game at 1. Center fielder Zerek Saenz followed up with a double to score York from first to make it 2-1.
Lopez drew a walk and right fielder Montclair Cain blasted a triple to right center field to bring in two more UTRGV runs. Brandon Pimentel hit an RBI groundout to shortstop to score Cain for the Vaqueros’ fifth run of the fifth inning.
Lopez added one more run with an RBI during the seventh inning, and a York double scored Steven Lancia and Edinburg alumnus RJ Ochoa during the eighth for the Vaqueros’ eight runs.
York finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and one run. The Edinburg Vela alumnus Lopez went 2-for-3 with one RBI, one run and one walk. They both have eight-game hitting streaks to start the 2023 season.
“For me, when I’m struggling, a bunt for a hit is what I’m going to do, and when I do that, all of a sudden I become the best hitter. When I believe in myself, when my team believes in me, it’s easy,” York said.
Saenz scored two runs and had one RBI off 3-for-5 hitting and Cain had two RBIs off two hits, including the triple.
UTRGV starter Colten Davis (1-0) was in command of the first six innings against CMU, limiting the Chippewas to one run off four hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Edinburg Vela alumnus Nico Rodriguez earned the save by pitching three shutout innings, finishing with five strikeouts while allowing two hits and one walk.
The Vaqueros are back in action with three games against Houston this weekend in the Al Ogletree Classic beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg. Game 2 between UTRGV and Houston is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The series finale is slated for noon Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at UTRGVTickets.com. The games can also be streamed online on ESPN+.
