EDINBURG, Texas – Baylor baseball dropped the series finale to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 7-4 on Monday at UTRGV Stadium in Edinburg, Texas. The Bears (1-2) fell behind early and could not complete the comeback against the Vaqueros (2-1).
 
UTRGV struck first in the bottom half of the opening frame after scoring following an error and fielder's choice to go up 1-0. The Bears had an answer in the second inning with a run of their own when second-year freshman Tre Richardson singled, fourth-year junior Davion Downey walked before sophomore transfer Antonio Valdez ripped an RBI-single to tie things up at 1-1.
 
The Vaqueros came away with three more runs in the second inning to go up 4-1. Baylor got one run back after Big 12 Newcomer of the Week Jared McKenzie got things started with a single up the middle. Following a wild pitch and ground out, second-year freshman Kyle Nevin stepped up to the plate and hit one through the right side to score McKenzie from third, making it 4-2.
 
UTRGV scratched across one in the fourth to push their advantage back to three runs. Later on in the sixth inning, the Bears got one run back with an RBI-groundout to trim the deficit to 5-3. In the bottom of the seventh, the Vaqueros added to the lead after scoring on an error.
 
The Bears were not done, as BU scored a run in the eighth to make it 6-4, however, the Vaqueros added the insurance run back in the bottom of the frame. With two runners on the in the top of the ninth a fly out ended the game to give UTRGV the 7-4 win.
 
Fifth-year senior Jimmy Winston (0-1) was tabbed with the loss, while UTRGV's Colten Davis (1-0) earned the win and Chases Bridges (1) got the save.
 
NOTES
• Richardson finished with a career high in hits after going 3-for-4, while also scoring two runs. The shortstop has a .429 (6-for-14) average to start the season.
• McKenzie tallied another hit on the season as he has a .467 batting average through the first three games.
• First-year freshman pitcher Grant Golomb impressed with two scoreless innings.
 
QUOTE FROM COACH ROD
"It was good to get a lot of guys out there on our pitching staff to try and get some of the anxiousness and nervousness out. We just made a few too many mistakes, some walks, some hit-by-pitches and defensively we made some costly errors that added on. They (UTRGV) got the hits with guys in scoring position. We had a lot of guys get on base but we just couldn't get the big hit to continue the inning."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears are set to play in the Round Rock Classic at Dell Diamond beginning this weekend Feb. 26-28. BU will take on Texas A&M at 6 p.m. on Friday, Auburn at 12 p.m. on Saturday and Oklahoma in a non-conference matchup on Sunday at 5 p.m.
 
To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on Facebook (Baylor Baseball), Twitter (@BaylorBaseball) and Instagram (@BaylorBaseball).