UTRGV Baseball Falls in Series Opener at New Mexico State

GoUTRGV.com LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team fell 11-8 to the New Mexico State Aggies in the series opener on Friday at Presley Askew Field. The Aggies (13-18) got the scoring started in the bottom of the first as Gunner Antillon hit a two-run home run for the 2-0 lead. The Vaqueros (18-15) answered in the top of the third as they loaded the bases for junior Brandon Pimentel who delivered an RBI infield single that scored graduate studuent DeAndre’ Shelton cutting into the Aggies lead 2-1. Junior Bryan Sturges then followed with a two-run single that gave the Vaqueros the 3-2 lead which also knocked out starter Cade Swenson. Graduate student Freddy Rojas Jr. then weclomed reliever Frank Dickson IV with a three-run home run that extended UTRGV’s lead to 6-2. The Aggies tacked on three more in the bottom of the fourth. Logan Gallina drove in Kevin Jimenez with an RBI single. After a walk and a strikeout, Cal Kilgore delivered a two-run double to right field that cut the Vaqueros lead to 6-5. UTRGV got one of those runs back in the top of the fifth as sophomore and PSJA High alum Jacob Sanchez and graduate student Brett Cain delivered two-out hits, which set up junior Diego Ramirez who followed with an RBI single that made it 7-5. In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies tied the game at seven as the first two batters reached in the inning before Jimenez hit an RBI single that knocked UTRGV starter Kevin Stevens out of the game. Later in the inning, a passed ball allowed Antillon to score tying the game. The Aggies took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single by Antillon and a miscue in the outfield on a single by Jimenez that gave them the 9-7 lead. A throwing error in the top of the eighth allowed graduate student Cameron Blake to come in and scoring cutting into the Aggies lead 9-8 but the Aggiees answered with two more in bottom of the eighth to push their lead back to 11-8 to cap the scoring. Josh Laukkanen (1-0) earned the win after pitching two and a third innings while scattering three hits. Alex Bustamante earned his fourth save of the season after pitching two innings and allowing just an earned run while striking out four. Senior Ricky Gerick Jr. fell to 2-3 on the season aftr pitching two innings and allowing two runs, one of which was earned, on three hits with three strikeouts. The Vaqueros and Aggies will be back on the field tomorrow for the middle game of the series with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.