Texas Border Business
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team fell to the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals 13-8 on Tuesday at Sullivan Field.
Down 2-1 entering the fourth, the Vaqueros (11-6) exploded for six runs. Graduate student Freddy Rojas Jr. led off with a double and sophomore PSJA alum Jacob Sanchez followed with a single that led to Rojas scoring to tie the game. One out later, junior Chris Mondesi singled and then sophomore Alex Kelch hit an RBI-single. After graduate student Brett Cain walked to load the bases, junior Diego Ramirez walked to force-in a run. Junior Brandon Pimentel followed with a two-run double and then graduate student Bryan Sturges capped the inning with an RBI-groundout to put the Vaqueros up 7-2.
The Cardinals (8-5) got one back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI-single by Reid Hensley.
Alec Carr and Taylor Darden came up with RBI-doubles and then Hensley hit a two-run single to tie the game in the fifth.
In the sixth, a Grant Smith single and an error scored a run and then Hernan Yanez doubled to score Smith and knock out junior Diego Escobedo (0-1). Later in the inning Darden added an RBI-single to put the Cardinals up 10-7.
That made a winner of Larry Westall (1-0), who pitched 2.2 innings of one-hit relief.
The Cardinals added three more runs in the seventh on a Smith triple, a Roberto Gonzalez double, and a Carr double.
The Vaqueros got one back in the ninth on a two-out double by Rojas, who finished 2-for-4.
The Cardinals scored first, going up 1-0 in the second on a Darden single.
The Vaqueros tied the game in the top of the third on an error that scored Kelch before the Cardinals regained the lead on a Yanez double in the bottom of the inning.
The bottom third of the Vaqueros order combined to go 6-for-13 as freshman Steven Lancia, Mondesi and Kelch all finished with two hits. Kelch scored twice and drove-in a run. Mondesi also scored.
UTRGV opens a three-game series at Tarleton on Friday at 6 p.m. Fans can watch at WACSports.com/Watch.
