UTRGV is entering the final stretch of the regular season with less than three weeks remaining until the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament begins May 26.
Dreams of a regular-season WAC title defense are fading for the Vaqueros (22-20, 13-11), as they trail first-place California Baptist (29-11, 21-3) by eight games with 12 games left on the schedule.
Despite looking up in the conference standings after losing three out of four against New Mexico State last weekend, UTRGV’s bats built a bit of momentum during the series finale.
The Vaqueros tied a program record by hitting six home runs during an 11-10 loss against the Aggies on Sunday. The feat had been done twice before in program history — in 2000 against Western Illinois and in 1991 against William Penn.
Edinburg Vela alum R.J. Ochoa was responsible for two of those long balls, as he hit his third and fourth home runs of the year. He finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, three runs scored and his first career multi-home run game.
Second baseman Andy Atwood and outfielders Elijah Alexander, Jacob Hirsh and Freddy Rojas Jr. all joined in on the home run fun to combine for six home runs in the loss. UTRGV finished the four-game series with 11 home runs.
While starting catcher Conrado Diaz has been out of the lineup due to a hand injury, the redshirt junior transfer from San Jacinto College Ochoa has made the most of his opportunities. His .304 batting averaging ranks second on the team among players who have started at least 15 games. He’s also tallied 28 hits, 21 RBIs and four home runs.
Now, Ochoa and company have a chance to carry over the momentum built from their six-home run performance into their four-game WAC series this weekend against the Tarleton Texans (19-28, 12-16).
It’s Tarleton’s first season of competing in the WAC in baseball, a perfect opportunity for UTRGV to officially welcome their in-state competition to the conference.
Game 1 between UTRGV and Tarleton is slated to start at 6 tonight. Games 2 and 3 will be played as a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday. First pitch of the series finale is scheduled for noon Sunday.
UTRGV Athletics is capping capacity at UTRGV Baseball Stadium at approximately 1,200 fans. Single-game tickets can be purchased online at UTRGVTickets.com.
The games are online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.
