The No. 7-seeded UTRGV baseball team lost against the No. 5 Abilene Christian Wildcats 8-2 in a Western Athletic Conference Tournament elimination game on Thursday at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona, the spring training home of the Oakland A’s.
McAllen High alumus Abanny Garcia was locked in a pitchers’ dual with Austin Glaze (4-1) for the first three innings, as each kept the other team off the board.
In the top of the fourth, though, the Wildcats (35-23) scored on a Maddox Miesse single and a Crew Parke groundout to take a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, though, sophomore Edinburg Vela alumnus Isaac Lopez hit a leadoff single and graduate student Brandon Pimentel hit a 395-foot home run to right to tie the game. The home run, which left the bat at 103 miles per hour, extended Pimentel’s career program record home run total to 31. It was also his 19th home run of the season, the third-highest single-season total in program history.
Pimentel finished 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored. Senior Roberto Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Pimentel finishes the season hitting .402, the fifth-highest batting average in program history, while recording 86 hits, tied for the fifth-highest total, 73 RBIs, the third-highest total, and 152 total bases, which ranks second.
For his Vaqueros (30-26) career, Pimentel hit a program record .389 while recording 175 hits, the ninth-highest total in program history, and 120 RBI, which ties for fifth.
Montclair Cain finished his career with 17 home runs, tied for the 10th-highest total in program history, and 32 doubles, which is tied for ninth. He didn’t make an error over his final 57 games, the seventh-longest streak in program history. Pimentel had a 70-game errorless streak, which ranks third, and senior Zerek Saenz had a 55-game streak, which ranks ninth.
As a team, the Vaqueros finished with 365 RBIs, the fifth-highest total in program history.
The Wildcats regained the lead against senior Alex Verdugo (3-3) in the sixth as a pair of errors and a hit put runners at second and third with one out, setting up a sacrifice fly by Jake Skaggs. Then, with two outs, Holden Rook hit a 2-run triple to make the score 5-2.
Grayson Tatrow added a solo home run in the seventh to put the Wildcats up 6-2.
In the ninth, the Wildcats loaded the bases with one out. Tanner Tweedt was plunked to force-in a run. Then, with two outs, a wild pitch brought home Miller Ladusau to make the score 8-2.