2 weeks Ago By From A News Release
Riverside Stadium was one of the big selling points for Julian Garcia to commit to UHV in 2021. Because of that, the senior right-handed pitcher wanted to leave his mark in his final start at the 78-year-old ballpark. Garcia delivered one last gem at Riverside on Saturday, tossing seven innings and striking out 10 while allowing just two hits and a walk to help UHV to a 10-0 win in Game 3 and series sweep over LSU Alexandria after winning Game 2, 8-3, earlier on Saturday.
"Riverside was half the reason I came here," Garcia said. "It's always been a special place to me since I got on campus. We couldn't have went out in a better way.
It won't hit me until later that I won't be able to get on this mound and compete here again. It's bittersweet because this is a special place to me." The 10 strikeouts by Garcia tied a season-high by the Houston native, who improved to 7-3 on the mound.
It was one of two solid starting pitching performances by the Jaguars (37-13, 22-8) following Game 2 starter Jonathan Jones' lead after striking out seven batters in six innings of the Game 1 win. "The 10 strikeouts and two hits allowed by Julian are great," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "But he'll tell you the biggest thing about it all is the zero he put up.
Those zero runs in seven innings gave us the chance to win the game. When the other team doesn't score, there's a good chance you're going to win the baseball game. So hats off to Julian, and hats off to Jonesy in Game 1 and everything they do.
We're excited to have them on their best game moving forward." UHV also got two of its most important bats going in the right direction Friday. Leadoff batter DeeAndre Torres was 5-for-6 with four RBIs between the doubleheader and Cristian Garcia had three hits and five RBIs in the two games.
For Torres, his leadoff single in the first game Saturday snapped a slump for the Eagle Pass native. "The guys were preaching to me to take it one at-bat at a time," Torres said. "So, I kept looking into the dugout and taking a deep breath, and believing in myself.
That gave me the confidence to go out there and compete." Garcia delivered the walk-off, RBI double in the eighth inning to give UHV the run-rule win. The Houston native delivered seven total RBIs in the three-game series, marking a strong step after returning from injury last week.
"It was really cool man, especially on Senior Day," Garcia said. "It's fun. I'm glad I'm back on the field and glad I got to finish my career at Riverside Stadium.
Man, it felt great." UHV will be the No. 2 seed in the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament next week and will face the No.
7 seed, which has yet to be finalized, at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 1, at the Sterlington Sports Complex in Sterlington, Louisiana.
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