LAWTON, OKLAHOMA – Texas A&M-Kingsville and Cameron University split a pair of Lone Star Conference baseball games on Friday at McCord Field. The Aggies (19-11, 12-8) won the first game 3-2 while the Javelinas (16-14, 13-10) nabbed the second game, 11-6. (Game 1, Game 2)

The first game proved to be a pitcher’s duel Jeremy Flores (Victoria/Memorial HS) of the Javelinas and Ricky Cramer of the Aggies. The Hoggies scratched across a run in the top of the first and Flores made it stand until the sixth inning.

Through five innings, Flores had allowed just two hits while striking out five in holding the Aggies scoreless. Josh Dawson got the Aggies on the board with a one-out two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth. They would tack on another run thanks to a Joe Halley RBI double that would send Flores to the showers.

The Javelinas scored a run in the top of the seventh and had runners on first and third with two outs, but James Rhodes was able to pick up a strikeout to earn his fourth save of the season. Cramer allowed four hits, one earned run and four walks while striking out six to improve to 4-2 on the season. Flores took the loss to fall to 0-3.

The Javelina offense came alive in the second game. They scored in each of the first four innings and built up a 10-2 lead before the Aggies scored four times in the bottom of the sixth. Fortunately, Clint Brown (Red Oak/Red Oak HS) was able to slow down the Aggie attack with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to earn his first save of the year. Tim Jones (Lake Jackson/Brazosport HS) improved to 5-2 on the season after allowing six hits, one earned run and three walks while striking out five in 5.2 innings.

The Javelinas stole eight bases in the game as Ryan Cook (Houston/Mayde Creek HS) tied the school record with four steals. He went 2-for-3 with three walks, a run, a double and an RBI.

The Javelinas pounded out 15 hits in the game. Ben Villafuerte (Corpus Christi/Carroll HS) went 4-for-5 with two steals, a run and an RBI. Jerry Rodriguez (Canovanas, P.R./North Lake) and Julian Duran (San Antonio/Madison HS) were each 3-for-5. Rodriguez scored a run and drove in two while Duran had three runs batted in, scored twice and laced a double. Trent Wagner (Victoria/Memorial HS) scored three times in the game while A.J. Hecker (Orange/Bridge City HS) was 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.

Chase Larsson entered the doubleheader for the Aggies on a national record streak of nine consecutive games with a home run. He did not hit a homer, but did have two hits and drove in three runs.

Corey Davidson allowed eight runs in three innings to fall to 4-3 on the season.

The two teams will meet on Saturday for the rubber game of the series at 1 p.m. Tim Jones notched his 200th career strikeout in the game becoming only the fifth player in school history to achieve the milestone.
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