The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team opened up an eight-game home stand with a 6-4 victory over the Youngstown State University Penguins in front of a crowd of 1,591 on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
UTRGV, which has sold more than 1,400 multi-game ticket packages this season, has now drawn 6,144 fans through four home games, their largest attendance through four home dates since moving into UTRGV Baseball Stadium in 2002. The previous record was 5,563, set in 2003.
The Vaqueros (6-3) jumped on Jon Snyder (0-3), as with junior Brandon Pimentel on second and two outs in the first, graduate student Freddy Rojas Jr. came up with an RBI-single. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, junior Edinburg Vela alum RJ Ochoa walked to force-in a run and make the score 2-0.
Snyder didn’t allow another baserunner until the fourth, when the Vaqueros loaded the bases, setting up a two-out no-doubt grand slam by Pimentel to make the score 6-0. Pimentel now has four home runs this season.
Pimentel finished 2-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored, marking his fifth multi-hit game of the season. Rojas went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored during his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
Senior Kevin Stevens (2-0) made the runs stand up, striking out nine in 5.0 scoreless innings while scattering four hits and two walks.
The Penguins (2-6) broke through in the sixth on a solo home run by Brae O’Shaughnessey. Two batters later, Andre Good hit an RBI-single that put runners on the corners. During the next at-bat, Steven D’Eusanio scored on a balk and then Dylan Swarmer hit an RBI-double to make the score 6-4.
Sophomore Zach Tjelmeland settled things down with 1.2 innings of hitless relief, striking out two.
Senior Ricky Gerik Jr. followed with four strikeouts in 2.0 scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the season.
UTRGV and Youngstown State play a single-admission doubleheader at noon Saturday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at UTRGVTickets.com.
