UTRGV splits Sunday doubleheader vs. NDSU

GAME 1

EDINBURG — The top three hitters in the lineup for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team combined to hits six doubles to lead the Vaqueros past the North Dakota State Bison 10-3 in seven innings in game one of a doubleheader on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.

The six doubles are tied for the sixth most in a game in program history.

Graduate student and Edinburg Vela alumnus Isaac Lopez went 2-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot. Junior Thomas Williams went 3-for-4 with three doubles, three RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore Easton Moomau went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored.

Up 2-0 in the fifth, the Vaqueros (3-1) sent 12 batters to the plate to score eight runs. Lopez, Williams and Moomau started the inning with consecutive doubles, the last of which, by Moomau, drove-in Lopez and Williams. Senior Steven Lancia followed with a walk. One out later, and after a wild pitch put runners at second and third, graduate student PSJA alum Jacob Sanchez hit a 2-run single. After the next two batters were plunked, sophomore Evan Janner walked to force-in a run. Lopez then hit a sacrifice fly before Williams capped the inning with a 2-run double.

That made a winner of junior Los Fresnos alum Víctor Loa (1-1), who pitched 4.0 scoreless innings of 1-hit ball, striking out five and walking two.

The Vaqueros jumped on Nolan Johnson(0-2) in the first, as Lopez and Williams started the game with doubles to bring in a run. Two outs later, sophomore Armani Raygoza hit an RBI-single to make the score 2-0.

The Bison (0-5) scored their runs on a 3-run home run by Colten Becker in the sixth.

GAME 2

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team fell to the North Dakota State Bison 7-5 in game two of a doubleheader on Sunday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,173.

Sophomore Armani Raygoza led the Vaqueros (4-2) offensively by going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, two RBI and a run scored. Graduate student Vela alum Isaac Lopez finished 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and a walk.

The Vaqueros scored all their runs in the third. With one, out, Lopez hit a solo home run. One out later, sophomore Easton Moomau doubled and then senior Steven Lancia drove him in with a single. Raygoza and graduate student PSJA alum Jacob Sanchez followed with back-to-back home runs to make the score 5-0.

Lopez now has 17-career home runs, tied for the 10^th-highest total in program history.

The Bison (1-6) got one back in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Davis Hamilton.

That was it against senior Jacob Limas, who pitched 5.0 innings, striking out four while allowing two hits and three walks.

The Bison scored twice in the sixth on an error and an RBI-double by Colten Beckerbefore getting one more in the seventh on a Jake Schaffner sacrifice fly to make the score 5-4.

The Bison threatened to tie it in the eighth against junior Steven Oliva (0-1), but stranded Kyle Law after a leadoff double.

The Vaqueros then threatened in the bottom of the eighth, putting runners on second and third with nobody out before Skyler Riedinger (1-0) got a shallow fly ball, a strikeout, and another fly out to escape.

In the ninth, Oliva retired the first two batters. After a walk and an infield-single, Noah Gordon fell behind in the count 0-2 before hitting a 3-run home run to give the Bison the lead.

Riedinger worked around a 1-out walk in the bottom of the inning to end the game.

UTRGV opens Southland Conference play with a 3-game series against defending conference champion Lamar starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive free “Our Valley, Our Team, Our Time” t-shirts.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at UTRGVTickets.com.

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