In the top of the seventh, the seats at UTRGV Baseball Stadium emptied as the 1,417 fans of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s (UTRGV) baseball team in attendance of Friday’s game against Central Michigan got on their feet to give junior RHP Angelo Cabral a standing ovation.
Cabral dazzled in his first start of the season and turned in a career performance to lead the Vaqueros (5-1) to a 9-2 victory over the CMU Chippewas (3-3). He struck out a whopping 15 batters – the most of any UTRGV or legacy institution pitcher since 2013.
In 6.1 innings of work, he gave up no runs and allowed just two hits and two walks to earn the win. Cabral’s dominant outing capped a good Friday at the ballpark as UTRGV won both games of a doubleheader with CMU.
Graduate student Edinburg Vela alum RJ Ochoa went 2-for-4 with a two-run homerun and a two-run triple for a game-high four RBI. Junior shortstop Kade York was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two stolen bases. Graduate student right fielder Montclair Cain tallied two RBI and a double.
CMU’s Keegan Batka took the loss, allowing eight runs on seven hits and two walks in 3.2 innings pitched. Nick Dardas was 2-for-4 with a double.
Cabral recorded two strikeouts and picked off a runner at first base in the first inning. He struck out the side in the second, freezing two batters and getting the third swinging. Cabral increased his strikeout streak to six in a row in the third, putting two backward cardboard Ks on the right-centerfield wall.
Ochoa gave UTRGV the early 2-0 advantage with a laser two-run homerun into the visitor’s bullpen in left field in the bottom of the second. The Vaqueros kept the bats hot to extend the lead to 7-0 in the third. York hit a leadoff single to center. Redshirt sophomore second baseman and Edinburg Vela alum Isaac Lopez drove York in with an RBI single to left. Cain notched an RBI groundout. Junior PSJA High alum Jacob Sanchez reached on an RBI fielder’s choice. Then, Ochoa sent a loud two-RBI standup triple to deep center field.
Cabral continued to dominate on the hill, aided by the solid offensive performance from his teammates. He recorded back-to-back strikeouts to start the fourth, then ended the frame with his 10th strikeout of the night. In the home half of the fourth, Cain put the Vaqueros up 8-0 with an RBI double to right-center. York scored on a wild pitch in the sixth for the 9-0 lead.
Cabral struck out two batters in both the fifth and sixth innings, then recorded strikeout No. 15 to start the seventh. He mowed down Chippewas throughout the night and was greeted by appreciative teammates in the dugout when his night was done.
CMU cut its deficit to 9-2 in the eighth on RBI singles from Justin Simpson and Garrett Navarra.
Junior RHP Sebastian Mejia worked a three up, three down top of the ninth to cap the win.
The series between UTRGV and CMU continues at 11 a.m. Saturday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg.