The UTRGV Baseball Team took a 4-3 win in a 10-inning game against the University of Incarnate Word Friday night in the Baseball Stadium on the Edinburg campus.
With the victory, the Vaqueros were able to clinch a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament.
After a sacrifice fly from Thomas Williams, a redshirt senior infielder, knotted the score in the ninth, Evan Janner, a junior outfielder, brought home Easton Moomau, a junior infielder, with a walk-off RBI single to win the series opener for the Vaqueros.
Head coach Derek Matlock said his goal is to “win the series” and believes consistent pitching is the key to do so.
“Well, we gotta pitch good again,” Matlock said. “It seems like every time we have a good start, we win games, and we’ve had … quite a few good starts in a row.”
He added the Vaqueros “played good” and gave credit to the Cardinals for their effort.
“You’ve got a team over there that’s at the bottom … look at how good they are,” Matlock said. “We’re all the same. You know, [South Louisiana University] is in first place, and we beat them in a series. … If we play good, we’re the best, and if we don’t, we’re not.”
Earlier in the game, at the bottom of the fourth, Hank Warren, a redshirt senior outfielder, put UTRGV on the board with an RBI single after three scoreless innings.
In the following, Rocco Garza Gongora, a redshirt junior outfielder, responded with his own home run to knot the score 2-2.
The Vaqueros will face Incarnate Word again for game No. 2 at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and game No. 3 at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Baseball Stadium on the Edinburg campus.
