The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team fell to the Utah Valley Wolverines 6-4 on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg.
UTRGV drew 8,629 fans for the 3-game series, increasing the season total home attendance to 42,433 through 22 dates, 3,028 short of the program record of 45,461 set across 28 dates last season. UTRGV has seven home games remaining. UTRGV is averaging 1,929 fans per home date. If that average holds, UTRGV will break the current program record of 1,920 fans per date set across 20 dates in 1972.
All four Wolverines (19-18, 10-5 WAC) that faced junior Jacob Limas (3-1) in the first reached, as Daniel Dickinson was plunked, Burke Camper hit a 2-run home run, and then Calyn Halvorson and Cole Jordan singled. Nate Bach greeted junior Jack Lopez with an RBI-single. Then, after a fielder’s choice put runners on the corners, Jayden Smith got caught trying to steal second, allowing Jordan to score to put the Wolverines up 4-0.
The Vaqueros (17-15, 7-8 WAC) got two back against Jackson Thomas (3-0) in the second. Freshman Armani Raygoza drew a leadoff walked and then graduate student CJ Valdez doubled. Senior Jalen Freeman and junior Edinburg Vela alumnus Isaac Lopez followed with RBI-groundouts to make the score 4-2.
Raygoza launched his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot in the fourth, to bring the Vaqueros within 4-3.
Dickinson responded with a home run of his own in the sixth to extend the Wolverines’ lead to 5-3.
The Wolverines added a run in the eighth when Halvorson hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded to make the score 6-3.
In the bottom of the inning, senior Adrian Torres led off with a single and moved to second on a balk and third on a wild pitch. Junior Sharyland High alumnus Martin Vazquez followed with an RBI-groundout to make the score 6-4.
Ethan Fowlks pitched 2.0 perfect innings for his first save.
UTRGV visits Texas, a team receiving votes in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in a nonconference game that will be televised on Longhorn Network.
