Texas Border Business
EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team opened the Al Ogletree Classic with a 6-4 loss to Portland on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
Senior Anthony Gomez reached base all four times for UTRGV (2-3), including a single, two walks and two runs scored. Senior Andy Atwood and junior Coleman Grubbs each recorded two hits and an RBI. Atwood also scored a run while Grubbs drew a walk.
UTRGV scored a run on an error in the second, an infield-single by Grubbs in the third, a double by junior Elijah Alexander in the fourth, and a single by Atwood in the sixth.
Senior Chase Adams made the runs stand up early, striking out six in five innings while allowing two runs on two hits.
Portland (5-1) scored in the first on a Matt Kelly home run and then in the sixth on a Travis Turney single.
Senior Nikki Rowe alum Ryan Jackson (0-1) took over in the seventh and struck out five in two innings. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, though, Kelly walked to force-in a run. Chad Stevens followed with a groundball to short. Atwood’s throw was low, allowing Stevens to reach and a run to score. As a second runner tried to score, junior Tyler Torres threw home, but the throw got past the plate, allowing a third runner to come home and score.
That made a winner of Peter Allegro (1-0), who pitched a scoreless seventh.
Connor Knutson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.
