The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced they will be adding a fourth game to its weekend baseball series against Northern Illinois in a news release earlier today.
The added match will be a part of a Sunday doubleheader that will follow the originally scheduled noon matchup at the UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
As a part of the doubleheader, the first game of the day is now only scheduled for seven innings, but the just added second game will go the full distance of nine innings with the opening pitch 30-45 minutes after the end of the first game.
The first two games of the series are still scheduled for their original times of noon Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.
UTRGV comes into this match after going 1-3 on the road against Washington of the PAC-12.
In the first three games of the series, which included a seven-inning game two due to a rain delay, the Vaqueros were outscored 5-19 that included a 0-6 defeat in game three as they only recorded four hits.
In the fourth game, UTRGV edged out Washington in a narrow 2-0 victory as the pitching trio of starter sophomore J.C. Ariza, reliever Colten Davis and junior closer Deryk Serbantez combined for a scoreless two hitter.
With the victory, the Vaquero now have wins against two Power Five opponents as they took two of three games from Big12 Baylor in the opening series of the season.
In a news conference earlier this week, UTRGV Head Coach Derek Matlock spoke of the experience his team has gained to start the 2021 campaign but wants to sure up areas in all three phases.
“More quality pitches, more fastballs hit instead of taken, being more aggressive offensively and just keep tightening this defense up,” Matlock said. “Defense hasn’t been very good yet, so it has the ability to be good, so we need to pick the ball up a little bit better.”
Northern Illinois comes into South Texas having dropped their first series of the year, 1-2, against Evansville in tightly contested games and Matlock expects a tough series against the Huskies.
“They got some veteran guys, great starting pitching and a really scrappy right-handed hitting line up that if you don’t make good pitches, they’re going to get you,” he said.
Yet, with a record of 3-4 headed into the final series before the start of a three-month long Western Athletic Conference (WAC) season, Matlock is confident his team has the makeup of conference champions.
“Overall, I’m excited. I think it’s in there, I think we have the pieces, we just got to get guys to get a little better,” Matlock said.
A sentiment that was shared by the other coaches in the WAC as UTRGV was selected to place first in the Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll, according to a news release. Edging out Grand Canyon University and Sacramento State with four first-place votes.
For the series against Northern Illinois, UTRGV Athletics will allow 1,000 fans into the stadium and follow gameday protocols that include social distancing, face coverings and temperature checks among other procedures.
Twitter: @Radio_Rubio
