CORPUS CHRISTI – The UTRGV baseball team closed out the 2022-23 South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, with an 11-2 victory over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Tuesday at Chapman Field.
UTRGV wins the showdown by a final score of 36-28, earning three points for the victory and an additional point for drawing 2,470 fans for the March 14 home game compared to the 439 that attended Tuesday’s road contest.
The top three Vaqueros (18-13) in the batting order combined to go 10-for-15 (.667) with four RBI and six runs scored. Senior Zerek Saenz went 3-for-5 with a walk, an RBI and a season-high tying three runs scored. Sophomore Vela alum Isaac Lopez went a career-best 4-for-6 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Graduate student Brandon Pimentel went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Additionally, sophomore Adrian Torreswent 2-for-4 with his first triple as a Vaquero and a career-high three RBI, junior PSJA alum Jacob Sanchez went 2-for-5 with two RBI, and senior Roberto Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and an RBI.
Saenz started the scoring in the second with a two-out RBI-single off Hayden Thomas (3-4) to make the score 1-0.
In the third, Torres hit an RBI-single andSanchez followed by driving in a run with a fielder’s choice to make the score 3-0.
Saenz opened the fourth with an infield single. Lopez followed with an RBI-double and then Pimentel hit an RBI-single. Three batters later, with two on and two out, Torres hit a 2-run triple to make the score 7-0.
Gonzalez put the Vaqueros up 8-0 in the top of the fifth with a sacrifice fly. The Islanders (14-20) responded in the bottom of the inning with a Leo Markotic RBI-single.
That was it against sophomore Randy Garza (2-1), who struck out seven while scattering three hits and one walk in a season-high tying 5.0 innings.
Former Islander and junior Sebastian Mejia followed by striking out a career-high tying five in 3.0 scoreless innings.
The Vaqueros added a run in the eighth on a two-out single by Sanchez.
In the ninth, the Vaqueros plated two more runs on a Pimentel fielder’s choice and a wild pitch that scored freshman Sharyland Pioneer alum Juan Rivera.
The Islanders completed the scoring with a Max Puls home runs in the ninth.
UTRGV visits Utah Valley for a 3-game series starting Friday at 7 p.m. Fans can watch domestically on ESPN+ or internationally via WAC International.