The Utah Valley baseball team took one out of four games from the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros from April 9-11 in Edinburg, Texas.
The series loss drops the Wolverines to 6-23 on the season and 4-12 in WAC play, putting them in ninth place in the conference.
UVU lost game one by a score of 6-1. Senior right hander Jesse Schmit (1-5) was tagged for all six runs in 4.2 innings pitched. The lone Wolverine run came in the eighth inning when Pacen Hayes scored on a throwing error.
Game two was much more competitive, but the Vaqueros still came out on top 5-4 in seven innings. UVU started out hot, scoring two runs in the first inning – the first coming from a Kade Poulsen RBI single and the second coming from a Drew Sims sacrifice fly. UTRGV answered with a pair of runs in both the second and third innings to flip the script, but the Wolverines were able to tie it in the fifth thanks to a Brandon Luna two-RBI single. The Vaqueros took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of a Jacob Hirsch RBI double.
UVU came out on top in an 11-inning thriller in game three by a final of 6-5. The Wolverines trailed 2-1 going into the eighth inning, but a pair of errors by UTRGV allowed UVU to take a 3-2 lead into the ninth. The Wolverines were unable to close the door on the Vaqueros, with a hit batsman to lead off the inning coming around to score. Poulsen plated his team-leading 16th RBI of the season in the top of the tenth, but UTRGV was able to answer yet again in the bottom half of the inning.
In the top of the 11th, Andrew Hacker accomplished a feat that would have been impossible a year ago — a leadoff two-run home run — thanks to the new extra innings rule that places a runner at second base to start each extra inning. The Wolverines nearly gave up yet another lead in the bottom of the inning, but a timely 4-6-3 double play got Devin Smith out of a jam having allowed just one run.
The fourth and final game of the series ended in grand fashion, with a walkoff grand slam by Angel De la Cruz giving the Vaqueros a 6-2 victory. The Wolverines scored both of their runs in the fifth inning but could have had more as they stranded a runner in scoring position in five of the 10 innings.
Following the series in Texas, the Wolverines will return home to face another Lone Star State foe in the Tarleton State Texans. The four-game series will be April 16-18, with a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game will start at 6 p.m. MT, and all four games can be streamed on the WAC Digital Network.
