EDINBURG — UTRGV baseball has worked its way to the middle of the Western Athletic Conference standings following back-to-back series wins.
The Vaqueros (16-13, 6-6 WAC) will go for three in a row with a three-game WAC series against Utah Valley (17-17, 8-4 WAC) beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg.
“We’re going to get ready for a really big-time Utah Valley team coming in here,” UTRGV head coach Derek Matlock said following the Vaqueros’ walk-off win against Texas at Arlington on Sunday.
UTRGV has been doing damage at the plate and ranks second in WAC play in team batting average at .298.
Leading the way offensively is junior catcher Steven Lancia, whose .414 overall batting average ranks 25th in the entire NCAA. He’s hitting .395 in conference play, good enough for second in the WAC. He has 41 hits, 20 RBIs and 20 runs on the year.
Two first-year bats also have been producing at the plate for UTRGV in redshirt freshman Armani Raygoza and junior college transfer Martin Vazquez.
The El Paso-native Raygoza earned WAC hitter of the week honors last week and is fifth in the WAC with a .386 batting average. He has 12 hits, seven RBIs, three runs and two home runs in nine WAC games.
The redshirt junior Vazquez, a Sharyland High alumnus, leads UTRGV with 10 home runs, six of which have come during WAC play, ranking second in the conference. He also has a team-high 26 RBIs this season.
On the mound, UTRGV senior pitcher and Edinburg Vela alum Nico Rodriguez sits atop the WAC earned run average leaderboard with a 0.00 ERA and 1-0 record in 7 1/3 innings of relief. He’s allowed six hits and no walks, and struck out eight during conference play.
“We’re just excited to keep going in conference. We started off a little slow, but we’re slowly building into the team that we want to be and be at the top of the conference at the end of the year,” Rodriguez said.
Game 2 of UTRGV’s WAC series against Utah Valley is slated for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, which is also designated as Selena Night. The first 1,000 fans in attendance receive free Selena Cups in celebration of the life of the Queen of Tex-Mex. There will also be a Selena Costume Contest and Selena’s music will be played throughout the game.
Game 3 is at noon Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at GoUTRGV.com/Tickets.
