Jags take series from MACU, set new mark for best-ever start

Saturday was fitting for the 2024 UHV baseball team.

On the same day the 2023 Red River Athletic Conference Tournament championship team was presented with its rings, the Jaguars swept Mid-America Christian, 2-1 and 6-5, to take the series 3-1 and improve to 7-1 on the year.

The 7-1 mark is the program's best-ever start through the first two series of the year. The 2008 team had set the previous mark, going 6-1 to kick off the inaugural year.

"There's no better feeling. I couldn't ask for a better group of guys," said senior pitcher Julian Garcia, who got the winning decision in Game 3. "Moving forward, we know not to take any days off. We come out here with the same mindset every day."

UHV tallied 12 hits in the 6-5 win in Game 4 of the series, but had to come from behind after surrendering a run to the Evangels (2-4) in the first inning.

The Jaguars responded by plating three runs on four hits to take a 3-1 lead in the home half of the first with RBIs from Kaden Fikac, Juan Martin and Hal Perez.

Perez finished the series going 4-for-10 at the plate with four RBIs and two home runs. He had a team-leading two RBIs in the final game of the series.

Hayden Leopold, who scored twice in Game 4, finished the series 7-for-13 at the plate after hitting .571 in the two games Saturday. The Columbus, Texas, native had the go-ahead RBI to score Levi Whitlock in the fifth inning of Game 3's 2-1 win.

UHV tied the game in the fourth inning with a double steal in which Raul Lopez stole home while Juan Martin swiped second base.

Levi Whitlock also had an RBI in Game 3.

"We won all these ballgames in different fashion," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "Yesterday, we won because of the home run ball. Today, we won because we moved runners up, had timely hits and put guys in motion."

Both starters Garcia and freshman Jacob Baker gave the bullpen another day off by throwing complete games in the seven-inning doubleheader and picking up their second wins this year. They followed the leads of Mason Longoria and Brady Parker, who threw complete game efforts on Friday.

"I can't say enough about our four starters," Stavinoha said. "We never had to go to our bullpen. We could've gone to the bullpen, but they were so strong and locked in that it was tough to take them out. And I love when pitchers make it tough on me to take them out."

Garcia allowed only four hits, including a two-out double in the seventh inning which prompted Stavinoha to come out and talk to the 6-foot-4 right-hander. Garcia wanted to just get back to work and get the final out, while his coach wanted to give the Houston native a chance to reset and record the final out.

He went on to get Jordan Crawford to ground out in the next at-bat and seal the win.

"It definitely helped," Garcia said of the mound visit. "My initial reaction was because I didn't want a breather; I just wanted to get back to work. But Stav is a great coach. We love playing for him and he knows best. That little breather was a nice reset and I was able to refocus to get the job done."

UHV has next week off before returning to action on Friday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m. to open conference play with a three-game series against Texas A&M-Texarkana.