KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team will open its 2014 season in celebratory fashion on Saturday when the host Houston-Victoria at 1 p.m. at Nolan Ryan Field.

Live stats and video of the game will be available online at javelinaathletics.com

The Javelinas are coming off a historic 42-18 season that resulted in a spot in the championship game of the South Central Regional Tournament after claiming the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship. Head coach Jason Gonzales along with University President Dr. Steven Tallant will distribute championship rings prior to the start of the season opener. The ceremony is slated to begin at approximately 12:30 p.m.

Also last year's eight seniors will be recognized for their time with program and the traditions they help build. The octet will throw out the ceremonial first pitch simultaneously. The 2013 class won the second most games over a 4-year period than any other Javelinas senior class to date and was the first to go to back-to-back NCAA Regionals.

Below is the 2014 Season Preview
The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team continues to blossom under head coach Jason Gonzales having reached the Lone Star Conference the past four seasons and advancing to the NCAA South Central Regionals each of the past two seasons. Last year's team won the LSC Tournament crown and advanced to the title game of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament winning a school record 42 games in the process.

With the recent success much has become expected of the Javelinas. Kingsville is the preseason favorite to win the LSC crown and is ranked as high as fourth in the nation in preseason polls. Living up to the increased expectations will be a key for this year's team.

"One of my concerns as we have prepared for this season is that the players would come back satisfied with what they have achieved in recent years," said Gonzales. "Instead they came in mad and disappointed about coming up a game short a season ago. They have really used that to motivate them to work to avoid that disappointment by taking the next step."

Despite losing a group of eight seniors that put together one of the best 4-year stretches in Javelina baseball, Kingsville returns a strong corps to continue its success with. Leading the returnees are Taylor Taska and Dallas Ponder, who were named the LSC Preseason Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively.

Last season, Taska was named an All-America player by multiple organizations. He was a Daktronics first-team All-America and was selected a regional player of the year multiple times. He led the LSC with home runs (7), hits (77), RBI (52), and total bases (126). A dual threat, Taska posted a 9-3 record on the mound a as a starter.

Ponder shared the LSC lead with 10 wins and was tops with three shutouts and 88-1/3 innings pitched. He had a 3.46 ERA and 88 strikeouts. He was a 3^rd-team All American and named all-region multiple times.

Four other returnees are back that hit over .300 as regulars who will be without several graduate players including Chris Ballou, Joe Tallerine, Cash Barker, Ben Villafuerte and Trent Wagner.
Ryan Guedry finished with a .328 average, while James Black hit .310 and was second with five home runs. Matt Perez and Clint Wallace each hit .307. Senior outfielders Travis Laird, Dustin Aguilar and Julian Duran also return providing speed and experience. Aguilar and Duran combined for 26 steals last season. David Massey, Mario Siller, Justin Lee, Brian Frazier and Brady Bippert return as reserves.

Ponder and Taska will be joined on the rubber by Matt Rhodes and Cody Williams. As a unit, the group won 33 of the teams 42 contests last season and had 45 starts. Also back are seniors Denver Diefenbach, who leads the returnees with 24 appearances, and Tres Tyler, junior Ryan Benitez, and sophomores Miles Holcomb and Weston Silverberg. The pitching staff will be without Jeremy Flores who joined the coaching staff after setting single-season record with 14 saves and Zach Pettiford.

"We have a good nucleus back on the mound," said Gonzales. "Anytime you have the Pitcher of the Year returning you have a good foundation Dallas, Matt, Taylor and Cody threw a lot of innings last season. We will need other guys to step up in the bullpen. We have some talented young guys that just have not had many chances."

One player Gonzales is expecting to make a step up into the rotation this season is Diefenbach.

"Denver may be the pitcher who makes that big step forward like Dallas," said coach. "He was tremendous during the fall and dominated at times. He tends to throw a lot of pitches which is something that you don't want in a reliever. He worked hard in the offseason to transform his body and is poised to have a tremendous season."

With the graduation of Flores, the closing position is up for grabs. One potential shift is for Taska to return to closer. He saved nine games as a freshman in 2010.

"We are looking to start the season with Taska as the closer," said the Javelina mentor. "He has done it before and it gives us a chance to look at some of the younger pitchers and get them some innings.

Gonzales is excited about multiple newcomers on this year's team. One of the biggest is Incarnate Word transfer Derrick Walls. Walls was a first-team All-LSC and all-region as a junior shortstop with the Cardinals. He led the conference with 34 steals and 57 runs scored. He will solidify the Javelina defense as the team's returning shortstop Perez shifts to second.

"We didn't just hand Derrick the shortstop position," said coach. "We had him at second most of the fall with Matt at short. We just saw Derrick make some tremendous plays during the fall world series and decided to make the move. Matt really checked ego and accepted the move without question. It will give us one of the top double-play combos in the league if not the country."

The corner infielders will be manned primarily by familiar faces in Black at third and Taska at first. Newcomers Cline Andrews is a utility player who could see time at third and behind the plate, while Fickel has pushed for playing time in the infield as well. Redshirt freshman Jimmy Roche will see action at first along with Guedry.

"We have a lot of versatility in the infield," said Gonzales. "Newcomers Cline Andrews and Ryan Fickel have competed really well in practice and will see action in the infield, while Jimmy Roche has looked good at first. Justin Lee has also looked tremendous in practice he deserves time as well."

The Kingsville outfield will look like a track team according to coach with tremendous speed. Returnees Duran, Aguilar and Laird will be joined by a trio of athletes. Returnees Massey and Holcomb are expected to see an increase in action as sophomores, while newcomer Blake Johnson is a lefty with speed.

"It will look like a track team in the outfield," said Gonzales. "If they can't get to the ball in the air it will have to have been hit perfectly or blooped. We will have a lot of versatility with our lineup. We will be able to platoon based on matchups. We could go with three righties or three lefties.
"We have a lot talent all over the field. The challenge will be how to get everyone into the lineup.
We have 18 good hitters and they can't all be in the lineup."

Wallace returns behind the plate after assuming the role as the primary starter following Barker's injury in the LSC Tournament. Guedry, who is also getting work at first base and Andrews also will see time behind the plate.

"Clint is talented and is a tremendous worker and team leader," said Gonzales. "Cline has looked good in his time behind the plate during practice. Clay Campbell has also been solid in practice."

With so much versatility, the DH position is wide open for the Javelinas. Among the primary option will be Taska, Guedry, Massey, Lee and Holcomb.

"We have quite a few options that we could put in the DH spot," said Gonzales. "It will go with whoever the hot hand is."

Despite the returning speed and the addition of Walls, Gonzales says that another 100 stolen base season may not necessarily be on the horizon.

"We have a lot of speed and have stolen a lot of bases in recent years," said the coach. "I am just not sure that means we will run as much. We have a lot of good gap hitters which may mean less steals and more runs. We don't want to run ourselves out of innings and take the bat out of the hands of our hitters."

The Javelinas are eager to get the season started and build on last year's momentum.

"We are ready to face someone with a different uniform," said coach. "We have a lot of leadership and talent and they want to take that next step."