Diego Vita/THE RIDER
Diego Vita/THE RIDER
The UTRGV Baseball Team dropped its Southland Conference series opener 17-9 to Northwestern State University, despite attempting to make a comeback during the eighth inning tonight in the Baseball Stadium on the Edinburg campus.
Assistant head coach Rob Martinez said it was “a really good game,” crediting the first win in the series to the Demons.
“We faced one of the best pitchers in the league,” Martinez said. “But also, we threw one of the best pitchers in the league. It was a really close game but, then, they … snowballed a little bit on us there. We gave them some runs. It is what it is; that’s just part of baseball.”
He added he thinks the Vaqueros “finally clicked on how to play together” toward the end of the game.
“That’s what we’re missing; we haven’t played a true, full game yet,” Martinez said. “We’re only two games out of first place. As bad as we played, we’re still just right there. And that’s what I told them. If we start playing together and believing in each other, then, we’ll always have a chance to fight at the end.”
Junior infielder Easton Moomau put UTRGV on the board at 1-0 after an RBI single during the bottom of the first inning, later adding a 2-run home run at the bottom of the third.
The Demons responded promptly at the top of the fourth, with junior outfielder Leonard Brooks and senior utility player Thomas Marsala each knocking singles. Then, senior utility player Ethan Menard hit a 3-run home run and put Northwestern State on the board, evening the score at 3-3.
At the top of the fifth inning, Demons senior outfielder Joe Siervo put Northwestern in the lead 5-3 after a two RBI single.
The bottom saw redshirt senior infielder Thomas Williams attempting to decrease the deficit with an RBI single, putting the Vaqueros at 5-4.
Diego Vita/THE RIDER
Diego Vita/THE RIDER
After a scoreless sixth inning for both teams, a two RBI single from Menard put Northwestern at 7-4.
The Demons did not stop there as redshirt junior infielder Michael McAloose added a 3-run home run, extending the team’s lead at 10-4.
Wild pitches from Vaqueros senior pitcher Anthony Garcia allowed redshirt freshman infielder Zach White and Brooks to add 2 more points for the Demons.
Northwestern, then, proceeded to secure 5 back-to-back RBI singles from Menard, McAloose, White, senior catcher Sebastian Huerta and junior infielder Sam Ardoin, catapulting them further ahead of UTRGV at 17-4.
The Vaqueros were ready to respond as sophomore utility Andy Chapa stepped up to bat at the bottom of the eighth inning and hit a home run, showing the Vaqueros were ready to keep fighting.
Later in the bottom, an RBI single from redshirt junior infielder Armani Raygoza followed by a 3-run home run from Julius Ramirez helped UTRGV shrink the lead at 17-9.
According to Martinez, it was the first time in the year the team players believed they were coming back.
“In that eighth inning, I told them to put up better bats, and we’ll get a chance to come back,” he said. “You never quit and, to be honest with you, we really wanted to win for the Valley. But I think they appreciated the fight we put in all the way through.”
With both teams scoreless in the final inning, the Demons took the victory in the first game of the SLC series.
The UTRGV Baseball Team will face Northwestern State again for game No. 2 at 6:30 p.m. Friday and game No. 3 at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Baseball Stadium on the Edinburg campus.
