UTRGV baseball drops WAC opener at Seattle

The UTRGV baseball team opened Western Athletic Conference (WAC) play with a 4-3 loss to the Seattle Redhawks on Friday at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue, Washington.

The Vaqueros (9-7, 0-1 WAC) got on the board against Blake Smith (2-1) in the third. Junior Hank Warren led off with a double down the rightfield line, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior PSJA North alum Damian Rodriguez, and scored on a groundout by senior Kade York to bring the Vaqueros within 2-1.

The Vaqueros added another run with two outs in the seventh when junior Sharyland alum Martin Vazquez singled to bring home senior Adrian Torres, making the score 4-2.

The Vaqueros loaded the bases with nobody out to knock out Smith in the eighth. One out later, graduate student CJ Valdez grounded out to bring home Rodriguez, making the score 4-3.

Smith was credited with allowing five hits in 7.0 innings while striking out three and walking one.

Junior Steven Lancia recorded the other two hits.

Cameron Dayton pitched 2.0 hitless innings of relief, striking out four, for his second save.

The Redhawks (5-11, 1-3 WAC) got on the board against senior Tyler Valdez (1-2) right away on an RBI-single by Sam Kane and a squeeze by Grant Heiser to make the score 2-0 in the first.

Mateo Zeppieri added a 1-out RBI single to put the Redhawks up 3-1 in the third.

Heiser added a 2-out RBI-single in the fifth put the Redhawks up 4-1.

Junior Aaron Sanchez pitched a career-high 4.0 innings of relief, striking out a career-high six while allowing one run on four hits and one walk.

Senior Vela alum Nico Rodriguez struck out two in a scoreless inning.

Valdez pitched the first 3.0 innings, striking out four while allowing three runs on six hits and one walk.

UTRGV and Seattle play the middle game of this three-game series at 4 p.m. Saturday.

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