Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team made a plethora of strong defensive plays to keep the Incarnate Word Cardinals off the board in a 9-3 victory on Tuesday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,127.
With the game scoreless in the third, Cardinals (15-18) leadoff man Taylor Darden drew a leadoff walk. Roberto Gonzalez followed with a ground ball up the middle. Junior Diego Ramirez ranged far to his right and grabbed the ball while dragging his toe across the second base bag for the force. He then made an off-balance throw to first to complete the double play.
In the fourth, Nixon Brannan hit a hot shot into the shortstop hole. Freshman Vela alum Isaac Lopez went to his knees to stop the ball on the backhand. He got to his feet and made a strong throw to first to end the inning.
In the sixth, with a runner at third and two outs, Brannan hit a deep fly ball to left field. Junior Brandon Pimentel raced back, and with his back to the infield, leapt and reached up as far as he could to make the catch to end the inning.
In the seventh, Wilson Ehrhardt hit a chopper up the middle. Lopez ranged behind the second base bag to make the grab while throwing on the run to get the out.
In the eighth, with two on and one out, graduate student Jacob Hirsh came racing in from center field to make a catch near the infield.
In the ninth, Robert Gonzalez lifted a fly ball down the right field line. Graduate student Brett Cain raced in and toward the line and made a sliding catch.
There were big moments for the pitchers as well. The Cardinals put two on with two outs against freshman Randy Garza (1-0) in the second, but Garza recorded a strikeout to escape the threat.
Then, in the third, with a runner at second and two outs, Garza froze Herman Yanez to end the inning.
Garza racked up a career-high four strikeouts in a career-high 4.1 innings for his first-career win.
The Cardinals put runners on the corners with one out in the fifth. Senior Ricky Gerik Jr. came into the game and got an infield pop out and a strikeout to end the threat.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth. Graduate student Max Balderrama Jr. came out of the pen to get a fly out on the first pitch he threw.
The Vaqueros (21-15) scored their first run against Aaron Celestino (3-2) in the third on a sacrifice fly by graduate student Bryan Sturges.
The Vaqueros added three more runs in the fourth on an RBI-single by graduate student Freddy Rojas Jr., a wild pitch that scored Ramirez, and an RBI-groundout by junior Raul Ortega.
Sturges belted a two-run home run, his fifth, in the fifth inning to put the Vaqueros up 6-0.
The Cardinals scored their run in the seventh on a home run by Zach Limas.
The Vaqueros got that run right back in the bottom of the inning on a Pimentel RBI-double.
Ramirez added a two-run home run, the first of his career, to put the Vaqueros up 9-1.
The Cardinals pushed two more across in the ninth on two-out singles by Yanez and Jimmy DeLeon.
Ramirez finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Cainwent 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Rojas finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Junior Chris Mondesi went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Sturges drove-in a game-high three runs.
UTRGV opens a three-game series at Abilene Christian on Friday at 6 p.m. Fans can watch in the United States on ESPN+ or internationally at WACSports.com/Watch.
