UTRGV drops South Texas Showdown

Vaqueros strand 8 runners in one-run loss to Islanders

The UTRGV Vaqueros lost the South Texas Showdown against the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Islanders 2-1 tonight in a close contest that was decided by the Corpus arms at the UTRGV Baseball Stadium on the Edinburg campus.

With a win, the Islanders improve to 4-7, while the Vaqueros drop to 5-2.

Corpus senior starter Evans Hendricks (2-0) got the win, pitching five innings, allowing one run on two hits and four walks and striking out four Vaqueros. Senior right-hander Maddox Thornton (0-1) would get the save.

Vaqueros redshirt junior right-hander Francisco Hernandez (1-1) would be straddled with the loss.

The Vaqueros offense struggled, striking out nine times and stranding eight runners on base in this game.

UTRGV baseball head coach Derek Matlock was candid in his comments to the media after the game, citing that the team “didn’t do a very good job of swinging at strikes.”

“You gotta get ’em in,” Matlock said. “We knew that [Hendricks] was good coming in; he throws balls to his glove side really well. And that’s always tough on right-handed hitters, and then that’s pushing the ball away from left-handed hitters, so he’s staying on one side of the plate.

“Sometimes you gotta tip the hat to their team, but our team is better than that. We didn’t do a good job swinging at strikes and staying behind balls, and that’s what we’ll get to work at tomorrow.”

The Vaqueros got on the board first in the bottom of the third inning after graduate third baseman CJ Valdez would ground out to short, scoring junior catcher Steven Lancia from third, giving UTRGV a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth, the Islanders tied the game 1-1 on an RBI single to center field from redshirt junior shortstop Isaac Webb, scoring junior second baseman Mario Mendoza Jr.

They took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth on an RBI single to left field from Webb, his second RBI of the game, scoring Mendoza Jr. from second. The Islanders loaded the bases, but Hernandez got back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Vaqueros would load the bases on two walks and a hit by pitch; however, Hendricks would strike out redshirt senior left fielder Adrian Torres looking to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, Thornton would come into the game for the Islanders and the Vaqueros would not reach base again. He set down the Vaqueros 1-2-3 in both the eighth and the ninth, and the game would end in a 2-1 Islander victory.

The Vaqueros will play the first game of a three-game weekend series against Austin Peay State University at 6:30 p.m. Friday at home.