Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team beat the Abilene Christian University Wildcats 12-6 to complete a series victory over the unanimous preseason Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Southwest Division favorites on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
The Vaqueros (11-5, 2-1 WAC) took two out of three from the Wildcats (8-7, 1-2 WAC), who won the 2021 Southland Conference Championship before transitioning to the WAC.
Graduate student Bryan Sturges led the Vaqueros by going 2-for-4 with a pair of two-run home runs and a career-high five RBI. Junior Brandon Pimentel went 2-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and three runs scored. Graduate student Cameron Blake hit his first-career grand slam for a career-high four RBI.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Sturges hit a two-run home run against Adam Stephenson (0-2) to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.
In the second, the Vaqueros put two on with one out. Graduate student Brett Cain hit an RBI-double to knock out Stephenson. One batter later with the bases loaded, Pimentel hit an RBI-single and Sturges hit a sacrifice fly. After a walk reloaded the bases, a wild pitch scored junior Diego Ramirez. Sophomore PSJA alum Jacob Sanchez got plunked to again load the bases, setting up Blake’s grand slam, capping the inning with the score 10-2.
The Wildcats got one back in the fifth, but Sturges hit another two-run home run in the sixth to put the Vaqueros up 12-3.
Junior Jesus Aldaz (1-1) earned his first-career win, striking out a career-high six in a career-high 5.0 innings while scattering four hits and two walks.
Sophomore Zach Tjelmeland followed with 2.0 scoreless innings, striking out two.
The Wildcats added one more run in the eighth and two in the ninth.
UTRGV plays the next five on the road, starting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at future WAC opponent Incarnate Word.
