The UTRGV baseball team defeated the New Mexico State Aggies 8-4 in the middle game of a three-game series on Saturday at Presley Askew Field in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The Vaqueros (11-11, 2-6 WAC) used a pair of two-out RBI-singles to take an early 2-0 lead against Pablo Cortes (1-2), with junior Kade York coming through in the second and graduate student Montclair Cain following suit in the third.
Junior Angelo Cabral (4-0) retired six of the first seven batters he faced. With one out in the third, though, Preston Godfrey homered to bring the Aggies (4-16, 2-6 WAC) within 2-1.
The Vaqueros got that run back in the fourth. Junior Adrian Torres drew a four-pitch, leadoff walk. A bad pickoff throw allowed Torres to move to third, from where he scored on a groundout by senior Edinburg Vela alumnus RJ Ochoa to make the score 3-1.
Nick Gore homered in the fifth to bring the Aggies within a run before junior PSJA High alumnus Jacob Sanchez answered with a home run of his own in the sixth to put the Vaqueros up 4-2.
Cabral pitched a career-high 6.2 innings, striking out four while allowing four hits and two walks.
The last batter Cabral faced, Keith Jones II, doubled. Nick Gore welcomed senior Alex Verdugo with an RBI-double to make the score 4-3. Verdugo responded by retiring the next six hitters he faced, striking out four, while pitching 2.1 innings for his first-career save.
The Vaqueros added four insurance runs in the ninth when Ochoa hit an RBI-double, senior Zerek Saenz and junior Erick Martinez hit RBI-singles, and Sanchez drew a bases-loaded walk.
York finished 2-for-3 with an RBI while senior Roberto Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
The Aggies completed the scoring in the ninth on a two-out RBI-single by Jones.
UTRGV and New Mexico State complete their three-game series at 1 p.m. Sunday.