UTRGV REPORTS
The UTRGV baseball team cruised past the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 10-0 in eight innings, enforcing the 10-run rule, toopen a three-game series Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg.
Senior right-handed pitcher Kevin Stevens (4-2) racked up seven strikeouts in a season-high eight scoreless innings for the win.He scattered five hits and one walk along the way. It was his fourth-career complete game and second-career shutout.
DeAndre’ Shelton led the Vaqueros (17-12, 7-6 WAC) offensively by going a 3-or-4 with an RBI, two runs scored and a stolenbase. Junior Diego Ramirez went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and one run scored. Junior Brandon Pimentel extended his hitting streakto 14 games by going 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. He is now 30-for-66 (.455) during the streak.
Catcher Bryan Sturges extended his hitting streak to 11 games by going 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. He is now 22-for-46 (.478) throughout the streak.
The Vaqueros broke through against Joe Todd (3-5) during the third, putting two on with one out to set up an RBI groundout byRamirez. An error brought home another run to make the score 2-0.
Freshman Edinburg Vela alum Isaac Lopez led off the fifth with a single. Center fielder Jacob Hirsh followed with an RBI triple andthen scored on a Ramirez sacrifice fly to make the score 4-0.
Sophomore PSJA High alum Jacob Sanchez led off the sixth with a single and later scored on a Shelton RBI single. Shelton movedto second on an error, stole third and scored on a wild pitch to make the score 6-0.
During the eighth, Ramirez and Pimentel hit back-to-back, two-out RBI singles before Sturges hit a walk-off, two-rundouble.The Vaqueros and Lumberjacks meet at 6 tonight for Game 2, with the series finale slated for noon Sunday with bothgames at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
