By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA’s 10-game winning streak came to an end on a windy Tuesday night in Edinburg.

Pitcher J.C. Ariza beat the Roadrunners for the second time in two seasons, throwing five innings to help the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros stop their own five-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory.

Last May, Ariza worked six innings in San Antonio and emerged as the winning pitcher as UTRGV downed UTSA 12-1 at Roadrunner Field.

This time, he came up big again, holding the Roadrunners to five hits and two runs. The 6-foot-5 righthander walked none and struck out four.

With timely hitting, UTRGV scored three times in the second inning off Drake Smith and twice in the fourth against Robbie Maldonado for a 5-0 lead.

UTSA pulled to within 5-2 in the fifth on solo homers by Caleb Hill and Taylor Smith. After that, the UTRGV bullpen stopped the momentum and saved the game for the home team.

In the ninth inning, UTSA put a scare into the home team when Antonio Valdez led off with a solo home run against Sebastian Mejia. Mejia, eventually, would get out of the jam. With a base runner at first, he struck out Garrett Poston for the last out.

UTSA’s winning streak was two shy of the school record. In 1994, the Roadrunners in only their third year as a program won 12 straight under coach Jimmy Shankle.

Records

UTSA 18-4
UTRGV 10-10

Coming up

UTSA at Rice, Friday, 3 p.m.
UTSA at Rice, Saturday, 2 p.m.
UTSA at Rice, Sunday, 1 p.m.