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STEPHENVILLE, Texas (Baseball) – Dalton Perry went 4-for-5 and Hayden Vesely blasted a three-run home run in the ninth as #RV/22 Texas A&M University-Kingsville (32-14, 22-10 LSC) split Sunday's doubleheader at Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex, falling to Tarleton State University (20-25, 14-18 LSC) 5-1 in game one before taking game two 6-4 to remain in first place in the Lone Star Conference standings.
 
Angelo State University also split its doubleheader at Cameron University to tie the Hogs atop the LSC standings. The Javelinas hold the tiebreaker over the Rams.
 
Game One
Costly errors by the Javelina defense and the pitching of Tarleton State ace Trevor Renfro allowed the Texans to tie the series at 1-1 with a 5-1 victory over the Javelinas in game one. Renfro went all 7.0 innings, allowing a run and four hits. Vesely (4-2) was charged with the loss after allowing five runs – one earned – in 5.0 innings of work. Jako Kelm came out of the bullpen with and threw a perfect sixth.
 
Zach Smith went 1-for-3 with a double and run scored and Miles Holcomb registered a pinch hit double after entering the game to begin the seventh inning.
 
TSU struck first with a run in the first and run in the second before Vesely settled tossed 2.0 scoreless innings. Heading into the latter stages of Sunday's opener trailing 2-0, Tarleton State was able to add three insurance runs in the fifth and the Javelinas answered with a run in the sixth on Ruben Almaguer's RBI groundout. Renfro was able to shut down any comeback hopes with a scoreless seventh as Tarleton took game one, 5-1.
 
Game Two
Shane Veeder allowed just one run in the first 4.0 innings of the game but the Javelinas went into the fifth inning trailing 1-0. That would all change as small ball manufactured two runs to give TAMUK a 2-1 lead. Brayton Carlson followed a leadoff single by Christian Caudle with a walk and Jimmy Roche sacrificed both runners into scoring position with one out. Wesley Aguilar's RBI groundout tied the game at 1-1 and Perry singled to left field to bring in Carlson for a 2-1 Kingsville lead. Perry's base knock was his third of the ballgame.
 
The Texans knotted the game at 2-2 with a run in the fifth and that would remain the score until the top of the eighth when Caudle's RBI single plated Pablo Hernandez to give Kingsville a 3-2 lead. For good measure, Vesely blasted a three-run shot to bring home Aguilar and Zach Smith, who reached on singles, to extend TAMUK's lead to 6-2. The Texans responded with two runs in the bottom frame but Lance Elling shut the door for his fifth save of the season.
 
Vesely went 1-for-5 with the three-run home run in the ninth and Perry was 4-for-5 from the leadoff spot. Caudle added two base hits. Veeder picked up the no-decision after 4.1 innings of one-run ball. Hunter Lehman (3-1) earned the victory after tossing 4.0 innings in relief of Veeder and TSU starter Blain Bagley fell to 1-4 after allowing three runs – two earned – in 8.0 innings.
 
The Javelinas head to Canyon, Texas to end the regular season at West Texas A&M University.
 
Live stats and video will be available.
 
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