Southland-High Six Baseball Players Earn Preseason All-Conference Honors

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team learned on Thursday that a Southland Conference-high and program record six Vaqueros, including graduate student pitcher Angelo Cabral, senior catcher Steven Lancia, graduate student shortstop Isaac Lopez, sophomore third baseman Easton Moomau, sophomore designated hitter Armani Raygoza, and fifth-year first baseman Martin Vazquez, have earned Preseason All-Southland Conference honors, occupying spots on the second team.

Nine teams had players picked to occupy the 30 preseason all-conference spots, with Lamar, Northwestern State and Southeastern tying for the second most picks with four each.

The previous program record for preseason all-conference honors was three, set in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 2014, 2020, and 2021.

Additionally, the Vaqueros were picked to finish fourth, two points shy of second, in the 11-team Southland.

Angelo Cabral

A Preseason All-WAC pick a year ago, Cabral started on opening night, striking out eight in 5.0 scoreless innings against Rhode Island before missing the remainder of the season due to injury.

In 2023, Cabral was an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings NCAA Div. I All-Central Region Second Team and All-WAC Second Team honoree, leading the WAC and ranking 61^st in the NCAA in ERA (3.22).

He also led the WAC and ranked 10^th in the NCAA in victories, going 10-2, making him UTRGV’s first 10-game winner since Sam Street went 12-2 as a senior in 2014. Street was 10-3 as a junior in 2013.

Cabral ranked 94^th in the NCAA and third in the WAC in WHIP (1.18), 131^st in the NCAA and eighth in the WAC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.45), and 139^th in the NCAA and third in the WAC in hits allowed per nine innings (7.93).

Cabral earned D1Baseball National Pitcher of the Week, Golden Spikes Award Performance of the Week nominee, and WAC Pitcher of the Week honors after racking up a career-high 15 strikeouts in 6.1 scoreless innings of two-hit, two-walk ball to beat No. 27 Central Michigan.

Steven Lancia

Last season, Lancia earned All-WAC Second Team honors while ranking 235^th in the NCAA and sixth in the WAC in hitting (.344). He made 48 starts at catcher, the most for a UTRGV catcher since 2011 (Mike McCarthy, 51). Lancia also got on-base at a .420 clip and slugged .479 while hitting four home runs, 12 doubles, and one triple, to go with 32 RBI and 40 runs scored. He recorded 16 multi-hit games, including six of three hits and two of five hits, and posted seven multi-RBI games, including two of three RBI and one of six RBI. Lancia had a team-best 35-game on-base streak that included a 10-game hitting streak.

Isaac Lopez

Lopez returns to shortstop, where he earned WAC All-Defensive honors in 2022, after playing the last two seasons at second base, including a WAC All-Defensive campaign in 2023. His defensive metrics have improved every year, with errors dropping from five to four to three, and his fielding percentage improving from .968 to .983 to .986. Offensively, Lopez enters his final season tied for 13^th in program history with 16-career home runs. Last season, he hit .281/.405/.395 with four home runs, five doubles, one triple, 28 RBI and 30 runs scored. Lopez recorded 14 multi-hit games, including two of three hits to go with six multi-RBI games, including one of four RBI. He reached base in 10-straight games at one point, including an 8-game hitting streak, and also reached base in his final seven games.

Easton Moomau

After seeing limited action for the first two months of the season, Moomau took hold of the starting third baseman job on April 27 and celebrated with a nine-game hitting streak, including five multi-hit games. He also had multi-hit games in three of the Vaqueros’ four games in the WAC Tournament. Overall, Moomau hit .268/.360/.320, going 26-for-97 with three doubles, one triple, seven RBI and 20 runs scored in 32 games (24 starts).

Armani Raygoza

Raygoza received most of his at-bats at designated hitter while also playing some first base. He hit .238/.340/.410 with six home runs, three doubles, 28 RBI and 17 runs scored in 42 games (30 starts). He earned WAC Player of the Week honors on April 1, following a week in which he hit .556/.600/1.000 while going 10-for-18 with two home runs, two doubles, a walk, eight RBI, and three runs scored in four games starting at designated hitter. Raygoza opened the week by going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored at Texas State and then kicked off a series at Utah Tech by going a career-best 4-for-5 with his first-career home run, a career-high four RBI, and a run scored. In the second game, Raygoza helped UTRGV clinch a series win by going 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, a walk, three RBI, and one run scored. He had his first multi-home run game, a pair of 2-run shots, against Stephen F. Austin. Raygoza finished the season with seven multi-hit games, including one of three hits and one of four hits, and seven multi-RBI games, including three of three RBI and two of four RBI.

Martin Vazquez

Vazquez is coming off a season in which he hit .318/.397/.602 with 17 home runs, nine doubles, 55 RBI, and 43 runs scored. His 17 home runs are the fourth most in a single season in program history, tied for the 10^th most in a career, and ranked 110^th in the NCAA and sixth in the WAC. Vazquez also ranked 117^th in the NCAA and fifth in the WAC in home runs per game (0.31) and 120^th in the NCAA and fourth in the WAC in sacrifice flies (4). He recorded 18 multi-hit games, including 11 of three hits, and 15 multi-RBI games, including seven of three RBI and two of four RBI. At one point Vazquez reached base in 23-straight games including an 18-game hitting streak.

Preseason Poll

In the preseason poll, Lamar was picked to repeat as Southland Conference Champions, earning 18 first place votes for 197 points. Southeastern was picked second with four first place votes and 146 points. McNeese received 145 points. UTRGV was right behind with 144 points.

Nicholls was picked fifth with 129 points, followed by New Orleans (128), Incarnate Word (95), Northwestern State (89), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (73), Houston Christian (37), and Stephen F. Austin (27).

The top eight teams in the Southland Conference qualify for the conference tournament. The top two seeds host 4-team brackets that will play a double-elimination tournament similar to the NCAA Regionals. The bracket play champions will meet in a best of three series, similar to the NCAA Super Regionals, hosted by the highest remaining seed to determine the tournament champion and automatic qualifier to the NCAA Regionals.

UTRGV opens the 2025 season on Feb. 14 at 6:30 p.m. with game one of a 3-game series against Southern Illinois. The full season schedule can be found at GoUTRGV.com.

Season tickets and mini plans are on sale now at UTRGVTickets.com.

2025 Southland Baseball Preseason Poll

2025 All-Southland Conference Preseason First Team
C Zak Skinner, Lamar
1B Brayden Evans, Lamar
2B Isaac Webb, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
SS TJ Salvaggio, Southeastern
3B Rocco Gump, Northwestern State
OF Reese Lipoma, Northwestern State
OF Connor Westenburg, McNeese
OF Cole Stromboe, Southeastern*
OF Tristian Moore, New Orleans*
UT Bryce Calloway, New Orleans
DH Rey Mendoza, Incarnate Word
SP Brennan Stuprich, Southeastern
SP John Salinas, Incarnate Word
SP Zach Garcia, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
RP Kyle Moseley, Lamar

2025 All-Southland Conference Preseason Second Team
C Steven Lancia, UTRGV
1B Martin Vazquez, UTRGV
2B Diego Villsecas, New Orleans
SS Isaac Lopez, UTRGV
3B Easton Moomau, UTRGV*
3B Matt Ryan, Lamar*
OF Balin Valentine, Northwestern State
OF Parker Coley, Southeastern
OF Jude Hall, Southeastern
UT Simon Larranaga, McNeese
DH Armani Raygoza, UTRGV
SP Parker Edwards, HCU
SP Angelo Cabral, UTRGV
SP Tyler Bryan, Northwestern State
RP Larson Fabre, Southeastern
*Tied for final spot