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STEPHENVILLE, Texas (Baseball) – #RV/22 Texas A&M University-Kingsville (30-13, 20-9 LSC) closes out the 2016 regular season with a six-game road trip, beginning a three-game series at Tarleton State University (19-23, 13-16 LSC) April 30-May 1 at Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex.
 
Weather altered game times as a single game is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday. The series concludes with a double dip on Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available for all three games.
 
In the Rankings
The initial NCAA South Central Region poll featured the Javelinas at No. 3. The top six teams advance to a regional tournament following the conclusion of conference tournament play with the winners of the Lone Star Conference, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Heartland Conference receiving automatic bids into the regional tourney.
 
In the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) rankings, the Javelinas received 36 votes and moved up four spots to No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (CBN) national rankings after a 4-0 week last week.
 
Game Changes
Texas A&M-Kingsville was slated to host the University of Houston-Victoria Tuesday but the final regular season home game was canceled and will not be made up.
 
About the Hogs
Dalton Perry is hitting .400 with five home runs, 13 doubles, 33 RBI and six stolen bases. The .400 clip is second best in the Lone Star Conference and leads the league in on-base percentage with a .496 OBP. Hayden Vesely is batting .323 with 14 doubles, six triples and eight stolen bases. His 39 runs and 14 doubles are second most in the conference and his six three-baggers are tied for the most. Freshman Pablo Hernandez is tied for the most long balls in the LSC with seven and the outfielder adds a .336 batting average with 33 RBI. Fellow freshman Ruben Almaguer is batting .308 with 13 doubles and 38 RBI (league-high). Jimmy Roche (.331, five doubles, three home runs) and Christian Caudle (.302) are also over the .300 mark. The patient Hogs draw more walks than any other team in the conference with Almaguer, Wesley Aguilar (.280 batting average), Caudle, Vesely, Perry and Brayton Carlson all drawing 20 or more base on balls.
 
On the rubber, freshman Preston Plovanich is 5-1 with a 3.09 ERA and two complete games. Shane Veeder is 4-2 with a 4.43 ERA. Lance Elling has 29 strikeouts in 21.0 innings and is holding opponents to a .145 batting average. The senior right-hander is 3-1 with a 2.14 ERA and three saves. Jako Kelm has a 4-2 win-loss record and 2.73 earned run average in 33.0 innings. Vesely is 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA and the two-way player has two saves and one complete game on the mound. Trey Taylor and Hunter Lehman have combined for four wins and six saves.
 
In conference play, TAMUK is batting a league-best .304, led by Perry's .448 batting average. Hernandez is hitting .344 versus LSC opponents with five home runs and 26 RBI, Roche is batting .330 with 18 RBI, Aguilar is at .327 and Caudle (.320) and Vesely (.311) are over .300. Vesely's 12 doubles, Hernandez's five home runs and 26 RBI, Roche's seven hit by pitches and Zach Smith's 10 stolen bases are all leading the LSC. Three of the top four and five of the top 10 on-base percentages come from Texas A&M-Kingsville players as Perry (.543) and Aguilar (.493) pace the league.
 
Plovanich is 5-1 with a 2.23 ERA in eight games, six starts.
 
About the Texans
Tarleton State is 19-23 on the season and 13-16 in the Lone Star Conference. The Texans are a game back from Cameron for the fourth and final LSC playoff spot with six games remaining. Alec Humphreys leads the Tarleton offense with a .354 average. On the mound, Trevor Renfro is 7-3 with a 2.57 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 77.0 innings.
 
Social Media
Be sure to follow the six-time Lone Star Conference championships on Twitter (@JavelinaBSB) and Instagram (@JavelinaBSB), and like the /JavelinaSports Facebook page.