The UTRGV baseball team scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to come from behind and beat the Utah Valley Wolverines 7-6 on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg.
Down 6-1 in the sixth, the Vaqueros (17-13, 7-6 WAC) made the game close when freshman Armani Raygoza belted a 3-run home run over the right field wall to make the score 6-4.
In the ninth, graduate student CJ Valdez led off with a home run against Jacob Beltran (0-2). Junior Edinburg Vela alumnus Isaac Lopez followed with a four-pitch walk and then senior Jalen Freeman doubled. Junior Erick Martinez singled to tie the game. One out later, senior Adrian Torres was plunked to load the bases and then junior Sharyland High alumnus Martin Vazquez hit a fly ball to right field to bring home Freeman.
That made a winner of junior Robert Bonilla, who struck out five in a career-high 3.0 scoreless innings of relief.
The Vaqueros also scored in the fourth, as with the bases loaded and one out, Lopez came up with a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-1.
The Wolverines (17-18, 8-5 WAC) scored single runs in the second, third and fifth innings.
The Wolverines added three runs in the sixth on a Garrett Broussard RBI-double and a 2-run double by Matthew Schwarz to make the score 6-1.
UTRGV and Utah Valley play the middle game of the series at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium for Selena Night. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive Selena cups. Selena music will be played throughout the game. There will be a best Selena costume contest. The winners will receive a UTRGV Campus Store gift card. First place receives $500, second place receives $300, third place receives $200. Fans can sign up, take a photo, and get a wristband at the entrance. The contest closes at 7 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at GoUTRGV.com/Tickets.
