MESA, Ariz. — The Seattle U baseball was came to a bitter end on Friday afternoon as it was eliminated from the Western Athletic Tournament, falling 19-9 after eight innings to UTRGV in its second game of the day.
In their longest game of the season, 3:36, the Redhawks ran out of steam late after trailing by as much as 11 through 5 1/2 innings before cutting the deficit to six after the seventh. The combined 28 runs tied a WAC Tournament record, previous set in 2011 by Hawai'i and Louisiana Tech.
For the first time during the tournament the Redhawks were on the short end of the hit column, 15-8, while leaving nine runners behind. Justin Mazzone led the way led the way with a 2-for-4 performance and had three RBI, while Kellen Carr came off the bench for a 2-for-2 stint and two runs driven in.
Seattle U held a 3-0 lead after two innings as Kai Alberghini drove one across in the first before Justin Mazzone scored two in the second.
UTRGV however erased the margin by plating seven runs in the third and then scored twice more in the fourth to take a 9-3 lead. The Redhawks immediately pulled one run back in the home half as Mazzone picked up 32nd RBI with single.
The Vaqueros then assumed a double-digit lead as they scored five in the fifth, making it 14-4, before adding more one in the sixth.
In the bottom of the sixth, Seattle U put runners on first and second after Austin Lively and Gavin Rork led off the inning with a single and hit by pitch respectively. Lively then scored in the next at bat as Carr singled to center. Drake Maningo then notched a one-out double to bringing Rork in, trimming the deficit to 15-6. Carr was later driven in by O'Brien, while Maningo recorded an unearned run thanks to a UTRGV throwing error.
After UTRGV stranded two in the seventh, Lively scored his fourth run of the game, tying a single-game best. He was pushed across with a double by Carr after reaching on another UTRGV error.
The margin was then re-inflated to 10 as the Vaqueros scored four in the eighth, providing the final margin.
The Redhawks finished the 2021 season 18-33 overall, winning five of their last eight games.