(RV) Baseball completes season-opening sweep of Wiley University

For the second consecutive season, the UHV baseball team opened the season with a series sweep.

The Jaguars (3-0) beat Wiley University 2-1 and 14-5 in a Saturday doubleheader at Riverside Stadium to close out the first week of the season.

UHV used a five-run first inning in Game 2 to jump out to an early lead before scoring four runs in the fifth and two in each the sixth and seventh. In total, the Jaguars plated 26 runs across the three-game set against the Wildcats (0-3), who won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season title in 2024.

"We didn't have our best ABs all the time in Game 2," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "But we scratched and clawed, got some guys on and put the pressure on. Proud of what the guys did today to get the sweep."

Cristian Garcia and Terry Burrel III kept their hot start from Friday going in Game 3 of the series with each blasting the first home runs of their UHV careers, both solo shots in the third and seventh innings, respectively.

Garcia, a graduate transfer from Western Kentucky University, finished 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and four runs scored on the day and 5-for-8 with three doubles and four RBIs for the series. Burrel, a transfer from Ranger College, hit .500 with four RBIs across the three games.

"First off, shout out to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ," Burrel said. "It felt great to get that first (home run) out of the way. This was a picture-perfect way to start the season. Everybody got going. I'm just speechless at how talented we are."

Senior catcher Hal Perez went 3-for-7 in the doubleheader with a pair of RBIs for a team-leading five in the opening series. Freshman Xavier Ortega went 3-for-5 in the twinbill Saturday, including going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, a double and a stolen base in Game 3 for the Victoria East product's first collegiate start.

Jonathan Jones and Mason Longoria each picked up their first wins of the season with Jones getting the decision in Game 2 and Longoria in Game 3.

Jones through five innings in which he allowed just one run on three hits in Game 2 before turning the ball over to Justin Mireles, who threw a perfect sixth inning, and Jacob Baker, who earned the save with a perfect inning as well.

Longoria allowed just four earned runs over five innings of work while striking out eight in the series finale to earn the decision. Senior Julian Garcia picked up the unconventional save in the blowout by tossing four shutout innings with five punchouts.

"Can't say enough about Jones and his performance, then turning it over to Mireles for the hold and Baker for the save," Stavinoha said. "Mason did well, but Wiley took advantage of a couple mistakes.

"Julian's willing to do whatever is asked of him. That's a first team All-Conference guy right there. We asked him to move out of the starting role for a weekend, and he'll be right back in the starting role next weekend, but to step up and hang zeros in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth says a lot about him."

The Jaguars are next set to host No. 13 Mid-America Christian University and No. 14 Central Methodist in the South Texas Shuffle, with UHV playing MACU in a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Friday and CMU in a doubleheader at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.