EDINBURG, Texas – Elijah Alexander homered twice, and Kevin Stevens struck out 12 over 8.0 innings of work en route to leading UT Rio Grande Valley to a 6-1 victory over Utah Valley on Friday evening in the series opener at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg, Texas. 
 
UVU falls to 5-21 overall and 3-10 in WAC play with the setback while UTRGV improves to 14-16 overall and 6-7 in league play with the win. 
 
Scoreless in the third, the Vaqueros pushed across a run in the bottom of the frame after three consecutive singles to take a 1-0 advantage. UTRGV then made it 3-0 in the fourth thanks to Alexander's first two-run home run of the contest. 
 
UT Rio Grande Valley's Conrado Diaz then drove in a run in the fifth on an RBI double and Alexander followed with his second two-run home run of the game later in the frame to extend UTRGV's lead to 6-0. 
 
With the UTRGV starter Stevens having allowed just three baserunners to reach the base paths into the eighth inning, the Wolverines then got a pair of runners aboard in the frame via a walk from Pacen Hayes followed by a double from Tavyn Lords to put two in scoring position with two away. Garrett Broussard then followed by reaching on an error to bring home Hayes for UVU's first run of the game and make it a 6-1 score. 
 
In the ninth, the Wolverines then got a lead-off double from Alexander Marco, but they couldn't capitalize as the next three batters were retired in order to end the ballgame. 
 
UTRGV's Stevens shined on the mound in the contest, as he surrendered just two hits and one unearned run while striking out 12 over 8.0 innings of work to improve to 3-4 on the year. UVU starter Jesse Schmit was tagged with the loss to drop to 1-5. Reliever Logan Petet had a nice outing for UVU on the day, as he entered in the fifth and went on to pitch 3.1 innings of scoreless relief in which he struck out two and surrendered just three hits. 
 
Lords, Mitch Moralez and Marco recorded hits on the day for UVU and Lords and Marco led the group by both hitting doubles. Alexander paced UTRGV by homering twice and going 2-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored while Diaz added a 2-for-3 outing with two RBIs and a run scored.
 
The series will continue on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at noon MT/1 p.m. CT at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. The weekend set will then close on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. MT/12 p.m. CT. Fans can catch all of the action on the WAC Digital Network.