EDINBURG — The UTRGV baseball team held a two-run lead on Sam Houston through six innings before the Bearkats put together a five-run seventh en route to a 9-4 victory over the Vaqueros on Friday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
The Vaqueros (9-8, 1-3) and Bearkats (11-8, 4-0) will play Game 2 of their three-game series at 6:30 tonight with the finale slated for noon Sunday, both at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg. Tonight’s game against Sam Houston is Military Appreciation Night, with free admission to active duty and retired military.
UTRGV scored one run during the first and second innings on a groundout by Montclair Cain with the bases loaded and an Isaac Lopez RBI-single for a 2-0 lead that held for four innings.
The Bearkats’ bats came alive during the seventh, however.
Sam Houston finally got to UTRGV starter Jesus Aldaz after three singles and two runs to start the inning. Relief pitcher Sebastian Mejia entered the game and hit the first batter he faced, and surrendered three more runs off two Sam Houston doubles to fall behind 5-2.
The Vaqueros scored another two runs during the seventh and eighth innings off a Sam Houston error and a Cain solo home run to right field.
After UTRGV made it a 5-4 game entering the ninth, Sam Houston put the series opener out of reach with a four-run frame.
“I thought we played a really good baseball game early. … We had the lead and I thought Aldaz pitched a great game. Our bullpen came in and didn’t get it done, and that’s just the bottom line,” UTRGV head coach Derek Matlock said. “We’re getting really beat up on 1-2 counts, 0-2 counts — we’re not making pitcher’s pitches in those counts, and the hitter’s the one that’s in trouble. Hopefully we can get that fixed over time. We’re not having anybody have success coming in here in a crooked inning. If there’s runners on they’re letting them in, and that’s a bad sign for a bullpen, so we have to clean that up. We have some good arms left this weekend with (Alex) Verdugo and Randy (Garza) and (Angelo) Cabral getting the start (today). We have to do a better job, and it’s not going to get any easier.”
Aldaz (2-2) allowed three runs off four hits and three walks, striking out three in 6 1/3 innings. Lopez led UTRGV offensively with one RBI and one run off 3-for-5 hitting. Cain finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs and one run.