UTRGV Baseball hosted the No. 3 Texas Tech University Raiders today at home with a crowd of 2,174 people. The Vaqueros fell 3-1 against the visitors and now stand 5-4 overall.
The Vaqueros scored their single run in the bottom of the first inning when sophomore outfielder Coleman Grubbs led the team with a double, moved to third after a wild throw by Raider pitcher Ryan Shetter, which then led fellow infielder Ivan Estrella to score off a one-out single.
Although UTRGV pitcher Trevelle Hill threw 78 strikes, the Raiders were able to capitalize on one of his pitches when shortstop Michael Davis hit a three-run homer over the left-field wall in the top of the second inning.
Head Coach Derek Matlock said Hill pitched “unbelievable.” He had a career-high six strikeouts during eight innings, allowing only one walk and nine hits.
“Trevelle pitched his tail off,” Estrella said. “I mean we couldn’t ask for anything more from him. We played well. We played good defense. All around, good game.”
Asked about his mentality for the game, Hill replied, “I embrace it because you never know what could happen after the game is over, so you just have to play like it’s your last. That’s what my mentality is.”
Matlock said his team’s number one goal is to win the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament.
“We know what we are focused on,” he said. “We are going to try to learn our players and develop guys and then when the WAC starts, we are going to put all our eggs in one basket and we are going to try and get out to the WAC schools and that’s just our philosophy for this year.”
UTRGV will play Lamar University this weekend in a three-game series starting at 6 p.m. Friday in Beaumont. The Vaqueros will play at home again March 9 in a four-game series against the University of Maine Black Bears.
