The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team earned a 2-1 series victory over the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks by winning the finale 16-0 in seven innings on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,189.
UTRGV drew 9,066 for the 3-game series, extending its new single-season program attendance record to 51,499.
UTRGV has three home games remaining May 16-18 with tickets on sale at GoUTRGV.com/Tickets.
Six Vaqueros (21-18, 10-11 WAC) posted multi-hit games, led by senior PSJA North alum Damian Rodriguez, who went a career-best 4-for-4 with a double, a career-high two RBI and a career-high tying two runs scored. Graduate student CJ Valdez drove-in a career-high tying six runs while going 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored. Freshman Evan Janner went a career-best 2-for-3 with his first outside-the-park home run, his first double, a walk, a career-high four RBI and a career-high tying two runs scored. Junior Steven Lancia went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Junior Sharyland alum Martin Vazquez went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Freshman Easton Moomau recorded his first-career multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a career-high two runs scored.
Senior Tyler Valdez (2-3) made the offensive support stand up, pitching a career-high 6.0 scoreless innings, striking out four while scattering two hits and one walk. He was perfect the second time through the order.
Junior Jack Quinn followed by striking out a career-high tying two in a scoreless seventh to close out the game.
The Vaqueros set the tone early, as with one out in the second, Rodriguez hustled to turn a single into a double. Junior Hank Warren followed with a fly ball to deep right-center. As Cole Hill made the catch and spun to throw, Rodriguez tagged up and took off. He hit the third base bag and kept running. The throw to the plate beat Rodriguez, but as Sam Adams attempted to apply the tag, Rodriguez leapt over him and brought his right hand down on the plate, avoiding the tag to score the run. Janner followed with a double against Lumberjacks (7-37, 3-21 WAC) started Elian Balmaceda(1-6) and then York singled him in to make the score 2-0.
In the third, the Vaqueros put two on with one out to setup a Valdez RBI-single. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, Janner walked to force-in a run, making the score 4-0.
The Vaqueros loaded the bases with one out in the fourth. Valdez hit a 2-run double. Rodriguez followed with a chopper to the right side. The throw to first sailed high, allowing two runs to score to make the score 8-0.
The Vaqueros added eight more runs in the fifth, starting the inning with two walks and a single. Lancia singled to bring home a run. One out later, Valdez hit a 3-run double. Rodriguez followed with an RBI-single. Then, after Warren walked, Janner launched a home run over the center field batter’s eye to put the Vaqueros up 16-0.
UTRGV is back in action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Texas Tech, a team receiving votes in the latest USA Today coaches and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls, in a game that can be watched via Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
