SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball took a 7-0 lead over Lone Star Conference rival Angelo State and held on for a 10-8 victory on Friday afternoon at Foster Field. (box score)

The Javelinas (5-2, 3-1) once again reached base with regularity against the Rams (3-5, 2-5) with 10 hits, nine walks and two hit by pitches. Jerry Rodriguez (Canovanas, P.R./North Park) was the offensive star of the game as he reached base six times, scored three runs, stole two bases and cracked a home run.

The Hoggies scored four times in the third inning on four hits and two walks. Adrian Williams (Victoria/Memorial HS) struck the big hit with a two-out, two-run single. He finished the game with three runs batted in.

The Javelinas added another run in fourth inning. In the sixth, Rodriguez led off with a solo home run and Trent Wagner (Victoria/Memorial HS) drove in Adam Aspaas (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills HS) with a single.

Javelina starting pitcher David de Leon (Corpus Christi/Calallen HS) cruised through the first five innings of the game scattering three hits and three walks while striking out five. In the sixth inning he ran into some trouble giving up three hits and a walk before being pulled. Unfortunately all four runners ended up scoring, but he still earned his first win of the year in 5.1 innings.

After scoring four runs in the sixth inning, the Rams plated two more runners in the seventh inning to pull to within 7-6.

The Javs were able to take advantage of a pair of Ram errors in the top of the eighth and scored three times without a hit being recorded. Williams and Wagner each had sacrifice flies in the inning to push the lead back to 10-6.

Jonathon Escobar (Edinburg/Edinburg North HS) came on in the bottom of the eighth for the Hoggies in his first appearance of the season. He retired the side without allowing a hit and came out again in the ninth to try to close it out, but he gave up a two run homer to Travis Lites. Head coach Jason Gonzales followed by bringing in his closer Jeremy Flores (Victoria/Memorial HS). Flores walked a pair of batters in the inning to bring the potential winning run to the plate with two outs, but he induced a comebacker to the mound from Brian Brademan to end the game and earn his fourth save of the season.

The Javelinas had 10 hits with Rodriguez getting three, Ben Villafuerte (Corpus Christi/Carroll HS) two and Chris Ballou (Houston/Houston Christian HS) two. Cody Stigall (Seguin/Seguin HS) and Aspaas combined to score five runs despite not getting a single hit. Ballou and Wagner each had two runs batted in while Williams led the team with three.

The Rams finished with 10 hits. Lites led the way with a 4-for-5 performance that included a home run, two runs and four RBI’s. Joseph Leftridge went 1-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored. T.J. Bozeman fell to 1-2 on the season after allowing four hits, four runs and five walks while striking out two in 2.2 innings.

The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
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