Early lead not enough for Cougars against UTRGV

EDINBURG, Texas – Despite an early lead, the Cougars were unable to hold off UTRGV dropping the contest 13-5 on Saturday night at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.

Sophomore pitcher Graysen Drezek (0-1) tallied his first loss of the season for the Cougars (4-6) tossing one inning of work while UTRGV (7-3) relied on Alex Verdugo (2-0) through 7.1 innings of relief to come away with the win.

Player Highlights:

Drew Bianco: 1-3, R, 2RBI, HR
Zach Arnold: 2-3, R, RBI, SB
Brandon Burckel: 1-2, R, 2 SB

Game Highlights:

Zach Arnold and Alex Lopez both extended their reached base streaks to all 10 games.
Justin Murray made his pitching debut for the Cougars throwing one inning with two hits and no runs.
Drew Bianco hit his second home run of the season in the second inning.
Paul Schmitz tossed a career-high 2.2 innings with a career-high three strikeouts.

Key Innings:
1^st | Sophomore outfielder Cameron Nickens gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead in the top of the first singling up the middle to drive in junior third baseman Zach Arnold who had singled earlier in the inning.

2^nd | In the second, the Cougars added to their 1-0 lead bringing four more runs across home plate. With senior outfielder Brandon Uhse on first base, Drew Bianco sent one over the fence to bring both runners home for a 3-0 lead. Junior first baseman Justin Murray added to the score singling to right field sending sophomore shortstop Brandon Burckel home. Arnold followed it up with his second single of the day giving Murray enough time to cross the plate for a 5-0 lead. However, in the bottom of the frame, UTRGV matched Houston bringing five runs across the plate to tie the game at 5-5.

The Vaqueros continued to add to their lead scoring three in the bottom of the third, two in the seventh and three in the eighth to ultimately take the 13-5 win.

UP NEXT
The Cougars return to UTRGV Baseball Field on Sunday for the final game of the series with the first pitch scheduled at 12:00 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on the Varsity Network app.

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Team Stats

Zach Arnold

Anthony Tulimero

Justin Murray

Cameron Nickens

Players Mentioned

Zach Arnold

Drew Bianco

Brandon Burckel

Graysen Drezek

Alex Lopez

Justin Murray

Cameron Nickens

Paul Schmitz

Brandon Uhse

Players Mentioned

Zach Arnold

Drew Bianco

Brandon Burckel

Graysen Drezek

Alex Lopez

Justin Murray

Cameron Nickens

Paul Schmitz

Brandon Uhse

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