RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros baseball team improved to 2-0 to start the 2023 season by beating the Houston Christian University Huskies 10-6 on Saturday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,519.

The Vaqueros scored the first four runs on wild pitches, as sophomore Vela alum Isaac Lopez, graduate student Montclair Cain, and senior Roberto Gonzalez scored in a first inning that featured three wild pitches, two errors, two walks and one single.

The Vaqueros then went up 4-0 on a wild pitch that scored Cain in the third.

After the Huskies scored twice in the top of the fourth, senior Zerek Saenz used an RBI-groundout to put the Vaqueros up 5-2 and chased Huskies (0-2) starter Walker Zander (0-1) in the bottom of the inning.

The Vaqueros added four more runs in the fifth. Cain drew a leadoff walk and Gonzalez followed with a single that moved Cain to third. Cain scored on a passed ball and then graduate student Brandon Pimentel hit an RBI-double. One out later, junior Adrian Torres hit an RBI-double. Then, after a single by sophomore Steven Lancia put runners on the corners, junior Kade York laid down a suicide squeeze to bring home Torres and cap the inning with the Vaqueros up 9-2.

Cain scored a career-high tying three times and Gonzalez scored twice. Pimentel finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Lancia went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Sophomore Randy Garza started for the Vaqueros, striking out four in 4.0 innings while allowing two runs on four hits and two walks.

Both runs against Garza came in the fourth on a two-run double by Reed Chumley.

Junior Angelo Cabral (1-0) took over in the fifth and pitched two scoreless innings. In the seventh, however, Cash Benavides hit a leadoff double. One out later, Austin Roccaforte hit an RBI-single and Damian Ruiz walked. Sophomore Jack Lopez took over and gave up an RBI-single to Logan Letney to make the score 9-4. Lopez bounced back with his first-career strikeout before getting a groundball to escape the inning.

Samuel Benjamin hit a two-run home run in the eighth to make the score 9-6.

Junior Zach Tjelmeland came in to get the final out of the eighth and then the Vaqueros added some insurance in the bottom of the inning. Saenz hit a two-out triple and scored on an error to put the Vaqueros up 10-6.

Tjelmeland came back out in the ninth and struck out the side for his third-career save.

The Vaqueros and Huskies play the finale game of this three-game series on Sunday at 12 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at UTRGVTickets.com. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy, details of which can be found at GoUTRGV.com/ClearBag. Gates open at 11 a.m.

Fans unable to attend in person can watch domestically on ESPN+ or internationally via WAC International.