HOUSTON, Texas – Isaiah Lybarger tallied a career-high 10 strikeouts while tossing six innings of shutout baseball as the Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team brushed aside the Central Missouri Mules, 7-2, on Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.

The Javelinas have started the 2018 season 2-0, while the Mules now stand at 1-1.

In the third, the Javelinas put together a rally that blew the game open. Singles by Levi Zents and Dallas Stefano started the frame and Alex Gonzalez followed by rapping a double into the left field corner for the day's first run. A wild pitch allowed Stefano to trot home before Dylan Hutcheson drew a walk. A balk by Collin Jones (0-1) then allowed Gonzalez to score. After a flyout and a fielder's choice put runners on first and second, Pablo Hernandez doubled down the right field line to knock in TAMUK's fourth run. Christian Caudle scored on groundout by Austin Ingraham and Zents drove in Hernandez with a single. In his second at-bat of the inning, Stefano lashed an RBI triple into right-center, completing the uprising and giving TAMUK a 7-0 lead.

That support proved to be more than enough for Lybarger (1-0), who was nearly untouchable. His day started with the senior striking out the side in the first and he followed by adding two more K's in the second. Lybarger would strike out at least one batter in every inning while giving up only four singles and not walking a batter.

Starting in the seventh, the Javelina bullpen took over, beginning with Trey Taylor. The senior from Leander faced the minimum over two frames, striking out two and inducing a double play grounder to end the eighth. While the Mules did tag Joshua Valdez for a two-run homer in the ninth, the junior got the final three outs to secure the win.

The final game of the 2018 Houston Winter Invitational for Kingsville is Sunday afternoon's 10 a.m. meeting with Henderson State. To follow the program all season long, you can follow the team on Twitter @JavelinaBSB, like /JavelinaSports on Facebook and subscribe to the Javelina athletics YouTube channel.