Sophomores pitchers J.C. Ariza, Colten Davis and junior Deryk Serbantez combined to throw a two-hit shutout to lead the UTRGV baseball team past the Washington Huskies 2-0 on Monday at Husky Ballpark.
This marks the Vaqueros’ second-ever victory over the Huskies (3-4), having previously defeated them in 2018. UTRGV improved to 3-4.
Ariza pitched six innings of one-hit ball, striking out eight and walking one.
The hit was a single by Noah Hsue during the first, but he was caught stealing. Ramon Bramasco drew the lone walk during the third, after which Ariza retired the last 11 batters he faced.
Davis (2-0) pitched two perfect innings of relief, striking out three.
Serbantez worked around a one-out single and an error to pitch a scoreless ninth for his first-career save.
The Huskies pitchers were almost equal to the task, keeping the Vaqueros off the board until the eighth. Postbaccalaureate student Christian Sepulveda led off the inning with a single off of Dylan Lamb (0-1). A sacrifice bunt moved Sepulveda to second. Then, with two outs, junior Vela alum RJ Ochoa doubled down the left field line to score Sepulveda.
The Vaqueros added an insurance during the ninth as graduate student Conrado Diaz hit a one-out double, setting up pinch-runner and graduate student Elijah Alexander to score on a single by graduate student Andy Atwood.
Diaz finished 3-for-4, while Atwood went 2-for-4.
UTRGV opens up a three-game series against Northern Illinois at noon Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
UTRGV Athletics is capping capacity at UTRGV Baseball Stadium at about 1,000 fans. Single-game tickets can be purchased online at UTRGVTickets.com. For more information about game day, visit GoUTRGV.com/game-day.
Fans can also watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.
