Jags close out regular season with win, will be No. 3 seed in RRAC Tourney

Richard Gill Jr.'s Senior Day script was a near-perfect prediction for how the El Paso native thought he would go out in his final game at Riverside Stadium.

Gill went 3-for-4 with an RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base to help the Jaguars to a 13-5 win in the final game of the regular season and salvage a doubleheader split with LSU Alexandria after dropping the first game 7-3.

"I definitely didn't have the stolen base in my script," Gill joked. "I struggled in yesterday's game, so I went to my dad and he told me to stop pressing. I'm pretty old. I'm 23 years old and have been playing baseball all my life. So it felt good to just have fun and let loose. The results were there."

His stolen base in the sixth inning also enabled Raul Lopez to steal home and start a stretch of four unanswered runs for UHV (32-15, 19-11) to seal Game 3.

UHV's seniors in the batting order of Gill, Hayden Leopold, Raul Lopez, Levi Whitlock and Langston White combined four six hits, five RBIs and 10 runs scored in their final game at historic Riverside Stadium.

"I can't say enough about Richard Gill, and the attitude and effort he brings every single day," said UHV head coach Jonathan Stavinoha, "as well as all the seniors. Langston got the start in the second game and went off. He laid down a bunt for a hit, put a hard ball in play and beat it to first. He just did what he does best. … Great way to send the seniors out with a win here at Riverside."

Julian Garcia became the second UHV pitcher to ever eclipse 10 wins on the mound on Saturday, joining Ray Maldonado (2009) in that exclusive club.

The right-hander from Houston threw 5.1 innings allowing five runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts to improve to 10-2 on the bump. Though it may not have been his best, the win was his fifth in a row, which speaks to his offseason work, according to Stavinoha.

"Julian is a student of the game," Stavinoha said. "He's locked in. He figures out every flaw and knows how to pitch guys no matter what. So, just having that knowledge and ability to execute that on the mound is phenomenal. He's done it all year. He's really worked his tail off this year to really be in shape and get his body where it needs to be to have the longevity to get 10 wins. I can't wait to see what he does in the tournament."

Brady Parker suffered the loss in Game 2 of the series and the first game of the doubleheader.

Leopold notched his fifth home run of the season with a solo homer to left-center in the first inning of Game 2 and went 2-for-4. He and Hal Perez had the lone RBIs for UHV in the loss to the Generals (21-20, 18-11).

With the results from the weekend and the results from the Texas A&M-Texarkana/Louisiana Christian series, UHV will enter next week's RRAC Tournament at the Sterlington Sports Complex in Sterlington, Louisiana, as the No. 3 seed behind A&M-Texarkana, which holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Jaguars. Tournament pairings will 

"We all know what it takes to win," Gill said. "So, it's good getting some momentum going in (to the tournament). We're gonna try to get the job done next week."