EDINBURG, Texas – Utah Valley University baseball overcame an early four-run deficit, but in the end UT Rio Grande Valley managed to record a walk-off victory for the second consecutive day to beat UVU, 6-5, in the final series of the season for both teams on Friday evening at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg.
 
The Wolverines (14-38, 9-17 WAC) managed to reel off five consecutive runs to take a 5-4 advantage in the seventh, but UTRGV (33-19, 18-8 WAC) responded with a run in the seventh to tie it and a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth from Conrado Diaz to win it. 
 
With the setback, UVU has locked up the No. 6 seed for next week's WAC Baseball Tournament and will open play at the conference championship event on Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. MDT/6 p.m. MST at Hohokam Stadium against a to-be-announced third-seeded opponent. UTRGV will enter Saturday's final day of the regular season in a tie for second place and looking to secure the two seed. 
 
The Vaqueros got off to a strong start by scoring four unearned runs in the first to jump out to a 4-0 advantage. A trio of UVU errors in the inning aided the early rally for UTRGV. 
 
The Wolverines then got a run back in the third via a sacrifice fly from Alexander Marco to make it a 4-1 game. Still 4-1 in the fourth, UVU then loaded the bases and Ryan Eastburn delivered a two-out, two-run single to right to drive home both Kade Poulsen and Paul Estrada to make it a one-run game at 4-3. 
 
Junior right-hander Paxton Schultz had another quality start for the Wolverines after surrendering just four unearned runs on two hits over 6.0 solid innings of work. After giving up the four runs off of three errors in the first, Schultz then settled down by facing the minimum in three of the next five innings of action and struck out a pair in both the fifth and sixth innings to rack up a total of six strikeouts in the contest. 
 
The Wolverines then got back-to-back two-out walks in the seventh followed by a UTRGV defensive miscue to allow Marco to score to tie the game at 4-4. Poulsen then immediately followed with a go-ahead two-out RBI single to center to drive in Mick Madsen and give UVU its first lead of the game at 5-4.
 
With UVU haven gone to the bullpen, UT Rio Grande Valley then got its offense going in the bottom of the seventh and managed to respond to tie the game. After a walk and a sacrifice bunt, Andy Atwood delivered the big hit with an RBI double to right to deadlock the score at 5-5. Utah Valley reliever Kohl Hostert then came on and managed to induce an inning-ending double play to send the contest to the eighth. 
 
The score remained 5-5 until the bottom of the ninth when UTRGV again picked up a run to win it via a walk-off. Jacob Flores started the final rally with a leadoff double, but UVU's Hostert responded with a strikeout for the first out of the frame. Following a pitching change and an intentional walk, UT Rio Grande Valley's Diaz then dropped in a deep single to left-center to plate the winning run. 
 
Diaz led UTRGV in the game by going 2-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored, while Flores went 1-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. The senior Eastburn paced UVU with a 2-for-5 outing offensively with two RBIs while fellow senior Paul Estrada too posted a two-hit day by going 2-for-4 with a run scored. 
 
Despite suffering the defeat, the UVU pitching staff limited UTRGV to just five hits in the game. 
 
Despite pitching well, the senior reliever Hostert suffered the defeat on the mound for Utah Valley after surrendering one run on one hit while striking out two over two-plus innings of relief. UTRGV's Ryan Jackson earned the win for the Vaqueros after pitching the final two-thirds of an inning. 
 
The Wolverines and Vaqueros will conclude the series and the regular season on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT/noon CT at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Following the ballgame, UVU will head to Mesa, Arizona, for the WAC Baseball Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will open play on Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. MDT/6 p.m. MST against a to-be-determined opponent.  
 
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