The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team dropped the rubber game of a 3-game series to the UT Arlington Mavericks 8-7 on Sunday at Clay Gould Ball Park.
After the Vaqueros (24-18, 10-11 WAC) went down 1-2-3 in each of the first two innings against CadenNoah, junior Adrian Torres continued his torrid weekend with a leadoff single. Senior Vela alum RJ Ochoa followed with a 2-run home run and then junior Kade York walked before advancing to second on a wild pitch. One out later, sophomore Vela alum Isaac Lopez hit an RBI-single and then graduate student Brandon Pimentel followed with a 2-run home run to knock out Noah and make the score 5-0.
Pimentel added another 2-run home in the seventh off Matt Novis (2-1) to put the Vaqueros up 7-3.
This was Pimentel’s first multi-home run game of the season and the third of his career. He now has 13 home runs this season, the fifth-highest single-season total in program history. Pimentel has 25 home runs in two seasons as a Vaquero, leaving him two shy of the program record of 27, held by Hall of Famer Mitchell Moran (1981-83).
Pimentel went 3-for-5 with four RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base to extend his hitting streak to 20 games, during which time he’s hitting .440 (40-for-91) with 11 home runs, 37 RBI, 26 runs scored and three stolen bases.
Torres went 1-for-4 with a run scored to finish the series 6-for-13 (.462) with three RBI and three runs scored.
Graduate student Montclair Cain finished 2-for-4.
Senior Colten Davis held the Mavericks (23-20, 13-8 WAC) off the board through the first 3.2 innings. That’s when back-to-back singles set up a Ben Lumsden home run to make the score 5-3.
Senior Alex Verdugo took over with runners on the corners and two outs in the sixth and struck out Matt Cavanagh to escape the threat.
The Mavericks got a run back in the seventh on a 2-out RBI-single by Ryan Black to make the score 7-4.
Then, in the ninth, junior Nico Rodriguez (0-3) came in with runners at second and third and nobody out. Wilson Galvan greeted him with a 2-run single. Black followed with a 2-run home run to end the game.
UTRGV is scheduled to visit TCU on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Fans can watch on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.