RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team, the No. 2 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament which is receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls for the 10th week in a row, opened bracket play, presented by Payne Auto Group, with an 11-8 victory over the No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Thursday in front of a crowd of 3,215, the program’s 23rd largest crowd since moving into UTRGV Baseball Stadium in 2002 and 12th largest of the season.
 
UTRGV extends its program record season attendance to 76,380 across 24 dates, an average of 3,183 per date.
 

UTRGV advances to the bracket play semifinals against No. 6 Houston Christian University, which beat No. 3 Lamar 6-3 earlier in the day, on Thursday at 6 p.m. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi faces Lamar in an elimination game at 1 p.m.
 
All-tournament and single-session passes are on sale now and can be purchased at UTRGVTickets.com. Current students of the participating Southland institutions 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. Fans can find a full list of game day information at RallyTheValley.com. Gates open at 12 p.m.
 
Fans can watch all games domestically on ESPN+ or internationally via Southland International.
 
Senior Seven Lancia led the Vaqueros (35-16) offensively by going 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and a career-high tying three runs scored. Graduate student Vela alum Isaac Lopez went 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. Junior Thomas Williams went 2-for-3 with two walks and a grand slam for a career-high tying four RBI. It was Williams’ first-career grand slam and his ninth home run of the season. The Vaqueros now have three grand slams this season, all coming in the last eight games. Sophomore Easton Moomau went 2-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Graduate student PSJA alum Jacob Sanchez went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Sophomore Armani Raygoza finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.
 
Junior Steven Oliva (2-2) was clutch in relief, pitching a career-high 4.0 innings, striking out three while allowing just three hits and one walk for the win.
 
The Vaqueros trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the second. That’s when sophomore Evan Janner hit a 2-run home run to get the Vaqueros on the board.
 
Lancia scored on a wild pitch in the fourth to bring the Vaqueros within 4-3.
 
In the fifth, the Vaqueros loaded the bases with two outs, setting up Williams’ grand slam on a 1-2 pitch to give the Vaqueros a 7-4 lead.
 
The Islanders (20-30) tied the game in the top of the sixth, as after the first three batters walked, Drake Kerr hit a 2-run single and then purposely got caught stealing to allow the third run to score.
 
In the bottom of the inning, though, after David Dean (2-5) retired the first two batters, Lopez drew a four-pitch walk and Raygoza reached on an infield-single. The next three batters drove-in runs, as Sanchez and Moomau hit RBI-singles and Lancia hit a 2-run single to put the Vaqueros up 11-7.
 
The Islanders added a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Jackson Smith.
 
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead in the first on a 2-out error. In the second, Kerr drew a bases loaded walk and Isaac Webb hit a 2-run single to put the Islanders up 4-0.

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