Tweet #JavelinaSTRONG

CANYON, Texas (Baseball) – Hayden Vesely blasted two of Kingsville's four home runs in the first three innings of Friday's game and Preston Plovanich tossed 7.1 innings to improve to 7-1 as No. 18/22 Texas A&M University-Kingsville (33-14, 23-10 LSC) slugged its way to a 14-8 win over West Texas A&M University (32-16, 20-13 LSC) at Wilder Park.
 
Vesely finished 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI and also added a stolen base. Plovanich struck out five in the 7.1 innings of work, allowing four runs – three earned. Austin Moore (8-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing nine runs in 5.0 innings. Wesley Aguilar and Ruben Almaguer added two hits apiece, Jimmy Roche hit his fourth home run of the season with a three-run shot in the third and finished with two hits as well, and Christian Caudle drove in three on two singles.
 
The Javelinas got off to a quick start on a two-run shot by Vesely in the leadoff inning. Vesely's blast was his fifth of the season and Zach Smith, who reached on a hit by pitch, also scored on the long ball. Dalton Perry added a two-run homer in the ninth to extend the lead to 14-4 as the senior finished 2-for-6 with two RBI.
 
Vesely led off the third with a solo home run, his second dinger of the day, to give the Hogs a 3-0 lead. Almaguer and Hunter Perkins followed with back-to-back singles and Roche cleared the bases with a three-run opposite field home run to extend TAMUK's lead to 6-0. The three-run home run was Roche's fourth of the season.
 
After a scoreless fourth, the runs continued to pile up for the Javelinas on Caudle's two-run single and Aguilar's RBI base knock to give Texas A&M-Kingsville a 9-0 lead.
 
Plovanich began the conference bout with four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. The Buffalos were able to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs to cut their deficit to 9-2.
 
A run came around to score for WT in the sixth after an error put the leadoff runner on base.
 
The Javelinas plated their 10^th run of the game in the top of the eighth as Alex Gonzalez, who came in to pinch run for Aguilar, scored on a wild pitch. West Texas responded with a run in the bottom frame on a solo shot.
 
Jako Kelm entered the game with a runner on first and one out in the frame and induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the eighth with a six-run lead for Kingsville.
 
Roche registered a single for his second hit of the evening and Brayton Carlson, who entered in the seventh as a defensive substitution, singled in his lone plate appearance. With runners on first and second, Caudle ripped a single through the right side to bring home Roche and Gonzalez followed with an RBI fielder's choice to make it a 12-4 ballgame. With two outs, Perry continued the slugfest with a two-run shot of his own – his sixth home run of the season – to extend the lead to 10 runs.
 
The Buffs played three in the bottom of the ninth but Kingsville earned the victory 14-8, and clinched the series win with the fourth win of the season over WT. Trey Taylor entered the game with one out in the ninth and tossed 0.2 scoreless.
 
The regular season concludes tomorrow with a double dip, beginning at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available by visiting JavelinaAthletics.com
 
Be sure to follow the six-time Lone Star Conference championships on Twitter (@JavelinaBSB) and Instagram (@JavelinaBSB), and like the /JavelinaSports Facebook page.