Junior left fielder Brandon Pimentel hit a pair of three-run home runs to lead the UTRGV baseball team to a 23-3 victory over the George Washington Colonials on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg to complete a three-game series sweep.
UTRGV’s 23 runs is the program’s highest-scoring output since producing the same amount against Louisiana Tech on March 7, 2010.
Pimentel drove in a career-high six RBIs, the most for a player in program history since March 5, 2010, when Vinnie Mejia drove in six runs against Louisiana Tech.
Pimentel finished with a career-high three hits, going 3-for-4, and a career-high three runs scored and recorded his first career multi-home run game.
Pimentel’s first home run went out to right field and gave the Vaqueros (3-0) a 3-1 lead during the first inning against Justin Solt (0-1). His second home run went out to left field and put the Vaqueros up 8-1 during the fourth.
The Colonials (0-3) pulled to within 8-2 during the fifth, but the Vaqueros scored two during the bottom of the inning on a single by graduate student DeAndre’ Shelton, two during the sixth on a bases loaded walk by sophomore Alex Kelch and a Shelton single, and five during the seventh on a three-run double by junior Chris Mondesi and a two-run home by sophomore PSJA High alum Jacob Sanchez. Mondesi’s double came on the first pitch he has seen this season, while Sanchez’s home run was the first of his career.
The Vaqueros added six more runs during the eighth on a Mondesi bases-loaded walk, a Sanchez two-run double, and a pinch-hit three-run home run by junior Raul Ortega. The last two hits were Sanchez’s first-career double and Ortega’s first-career home run, coming in his first at-bat for UTRGV.
Sanchez posted his first career multi-hit game, going 2-for-2 with a career-high four RBI and a career-high two runs scored. Right fielder Freddy Rojas Jr. finished with his second career three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with a double, two walks and a career-high three runs scored. Shelton finished 2-for-3 with a career-high three walks, a career-high three RBIs and one run scored. It was his third career multi-hit game. Kelch recorded the first two hits of his career, going 2-for-3 with a double, one walk, two RBIs and one run scored.
UTRGV is back in action at 2 p.m. Friday against Texas Southern at the University of Houston.
