KINGSVILLE, Texas (Baseball) – A week after earning the sixth Lone Star Conference championship in Texas A&M University-Kingsville baseball history, the Javelinas (29-21) will be making their 13
th appearance at the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship this week, hosting the fourth-ranked Tarleton State University Texans (20-23) at 3 p.m. on May 7 at Nolan Ryan Field.
Hosting the 2015 LSC Baseball Championship for the second consecutive season and third time in school history, the Javelinas swept the Texans in last week's regular season finale behind strong pitching performances by
Ryan Scott,
Ryan Benitez and
Matt Terrones. The Javelinas have earned four LSC Tournament crowns, the last coming in 2013, and are 21-20 all-time in the LSC Tournament.
The Hogs are 370-205-1 all-time at Nolan Ryan Field, making it one of the toughest places to play. Against TSU, the Javelinas are 56-53 all-time.
Angelo State (34-15) is the third seed in the tournament and are 20-14 all-time in LSC Championship play and will play No. 2 West Texas A&M (34-16), at 11 a.m. The losers of the first two games will play an elimination game at 7 p.m. on Thursday, while the winners advance to play at 3 p.m. on Friday. The championship is scheduled for noon on Saturday. An if-necessary game would follow at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid to next week's NCAA Division II South Central Championship.
Two-time LSC Hitter of the Week
Cline Andrews leads the Javelinas in batting average (.349), RBI (36), triples (five) and
Brayton Carlson (.328, 10 stolen bases) and
Clint Wallace (.323, 29 RBI, nine caught stealing and three pickoffs) are over the .300 clip. Setting the tone at the top of the order is second baseman
Ryan Fickel (.298, nine stolen bases, 20 RBI).
Hayden Vesely leads the conference in base on balls (35) and boasts the team's highest on-base percentage (.430). The utility man has played first base, second base, short stop, left field and right field this season.
Scott (4-3) has been both sensational out of the 'pen and as a starter, boasting a 2.29 ERA and limiting opponents to a .165 batting average. He has struck out 54 hitters in 51.0 innings and has gone 8.0 innings in two of his four starts.
Benitez (7-4) picked up his seventh win of the season last week versus the Texans and has two complete games on the season. In fact, the senior right-hander has gone 6.0 or more innings nine times this season. Leading the club with eight wins is the southpaw
Matt Terrones, who has tossed two shutouts in his first season in a Javelina uniform.
Scott leads the team with seven saves despite moving to the starting rotation late in the year and
Weston Silverberg (3-1, 2.29 ERA) has five in 2015.
Tarleton State is the defending tournament champion after it earned its first tournament title last season with a 4-3 win over WT in the championship game.
Live stats for all games can be followed on JavelinaAthletics.com, the official home of Texas A&M-Kingsville athletics.
For full coverage of Javelina baseball, please follow @TAMUKBaseball14 on Twitter and @JavelinaAthletics on Instagram, like the Javelina Nation page on Facebook and subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULEThursday, May 7Game 1: #2 West Texas A&M vs. #3 Angelo State, 11 a.m.
Game 2: #1 Texas A&M-Kingsville vs. #4 Tarleton State, 3 p.m.
Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 8Game 4: Winner or Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 3 p.m.
Game 5: Loser of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 3, 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 9Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5, 12 p.m.
Game 7 (If-Necessary): 4 p.m.
