Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY – In the first home game against the #6 Texas Longhorns in 51 years, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball fell 7-2 on Tuesday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a single-game program record over-capacity crowd of 6,418.
The previous single-game attendance record is believed to be 4,900 for a game against Arizona at Jody Ramsey Stadium in 1976.
This is the largest known crowd to see a UTRGV baseball game against Texas since prior to 1999, with the previous high-water mark being 5,989 for the matchup in Austin this past April 5.
The Vaqueros (23-17) scored their run in the sixth. With two outs, freshman Vela alum Isaac Lopez singled and graduate student Cameron Blake walked, setting up an RBI-single by junior Diego Ramirez to make the score 5-1.
That was it against Zane Morehouse (1-0), who pitched 5.2 innings, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out six. Junior Chris Mondesi had the other hit, a single, while graduate student Brett Cain drew an 11-pitch walk.
The Vaqueros added a run in the ninth when Lopez drew a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out wild pitch.
The Longhorns (31-13) broke through against freshman Randy Garza (1-1) in the second on an RBI-single by Kimble Schuessler.
That was it until the fourth, when the Longhorns loaded the bases with two outs to knock out Garza. Douglas Hodo III drew a bases-loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch to force-in a run. Austin Todd hit a grounder to short that wasn’t fielded cleanly to extend the inning and bring in another run. Ivan Melendez capped the inning with a two-run single to make the score 5-0.
Garza recorded a career-high tying four strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
Junior Alex Verdugo pitched 2.0 scoreless innings, striking out two.
Junior Diego Escobedo pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one.
In the eighth, though, the Longhorns puts runners at second and third with one out. Austin Todd hit a pop-up between first and second that was dropped, allowing a run to score. Melendez followed with an RBI-single to make the score 7-1.
Sophomore Hunter Rosenbaum followed by pitching a scoreless 1.2 innings, striking out two.
UTRGV visits Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Fans can watch on ESPN+.
