KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – Zach Pettiford (San Diego, CA/Henry HS) silenced the Eastern New Mexico bats on Sunday afternoon giving Texas A&M-Kingsville a 6-1 win, a four game sweep of a Lone Star Conference rival and head baseball coach Jason Gonzales his 100th career victory.

Pettiford became the fourth Javelina (28-12, 16-8) starting pitcher of the weekend to pitch at least seven innings. He scattered six hits and did not allow a walk while striking out seven. He only allowed one run on the day and improved to 4-1 on the season and his earned run average dropped to 3.83 for the year.

The Javelinas got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Cameron Dullnig (San Antonio/Clark HS) led off with a double, extending his hitting streak to 17 games, and scored on Taylor Taska’s (Kingwood/Kingwood HS) double. Taska later scored on a ground out by Cash Barker (Spring/Klein HS).

The Greyhounds (12-30, 2-21) plated their only run of the day in the third inning. Alex Schultz doubled to lead off the inning and Luis Quinones came through with a two-out single to score him.

The Javelinas struggled to get anything going against Eastern New Mexico starter Gabriel Hemmer over the next three innings. Finally, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Taska came through with a two-out single to drive in Jake Mendiola (Kingsville/Richland Northeast HS).

Pettiford cruised through the middle innings without allowing a runner to get past second base. In the top of the eighth, Jeremy Flores (Victoria/Memorial HS) contributed a perfect inning of relief.

The Javelinas put the game away in the bottom of the eighth inning. Trent Wagner (Victoria/Memorial HS) walked to lead off the inning and Mendiola followed up with a two-run homer. They tacked on another run later in the inning for the final score.

In the ninth inning, Denver Diefenbach (Victoria/St. Joseph’s HS) was able to induce a game-ending double play to secure the win.

Taska led the Javelina offense with three hits, two RBI’s and a run scored. Mendiola and Barker each finished with a pair of hits. In all, the team had 10 hits and stole four bases. Overall, the team stole 14 bases in the series.

The Javelinas head into the final week of the regular season tied with Angelo State for first place in the conference with identical 16-8 records. The team is back in action on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at home against Texas A&M-International in a non-conference game.
####
pr12214smm