THIBODAUX, La. – Graduate student Austin Stracener hit a two-out RBI-single in the 10^th to send The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team to a 2-1 victory over the Nicholls Colonels Friday at Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field.

Junior Chayton Fischer walked with one out in the 10^th. Pinch-runner and graduate student Vela alum Rudy Gonzalezmoved to second on a ground out and to third on a Peyton Lacy (1-1) wild pitch. Stracener followed with a single to left on a 3-2 pitch to give the Vaqueros (8-10, 3-4 SLC) the lead.

That made a winner of senior Anthony Garcia (1-0), who struck out three in two perfect innings of relief.

Graduate student Sergio Lopez started and pitched a career-high tying 8.0 innings of one-run ball, striking out six while allowing seven hits.

He only issued one walk, to Greyson Shafer leading off the seventh. Two outs later, Casey Artigues and Keegan Giger hit back-to-back singles to tie the game at 1.

Junior PSJA alum Julius Ramirez led the Vaqueros offensively by going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Senior Thomas Williamsfinished 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, and a run scored.

Williams hit a leadoff double in the fourth. One out later, Ramirez hit an RBI-single up the middle to give the Vaqueros a 1-0 lead.

UTRGV and Nicholls (11-9, 3-3 SLC) play the middle game of this series on Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

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