KINGSVILLE, Texas – Riding a wave of momentum after picking up three wins at 2018 the Houston Winter Invitational, the Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team is back at Nolan Ryan Field, set to begin their home schedule with four games against Southwest Baptist University, starting on Friday with a 4 p.m. first pitch.
Starting pitching was the story for the Javelinas in Houston, as Preston Plovanich, Isaiah Lybarger and Kyle Craft combined to throw 18 scoreless innings and each picked up a win. Plovanich fired seven scoreless frames against Colorado School of Mines while Lybarger tallied a career-high 10 strikeouts in a win over Central Missouri. For his efforts, Lybarger was chosen as the Lone Star Conference's pitcher of the week. Craft capped the weekend with a five-inning outing during which he yielded only two hits.
Coach Jason Gonzales's lineup blew up twice at the invitational, first scoring seven runs in the third inning against the Mules in a rally that included extra base hits from Alex Gonzalez, Pablo Hernandez and Dallas Stefano, all of which drove in runs. One day later, the Hogs outdid themselves with a nine-run seventh against Henderson State. Austin Ingraham and Kohl Ullman had the big hits in that frame, with Ingraham cracking a three-run double and Ullman also doubling and knocking in a pair. The two home runs the Javs hit in Houston came courtesy of Manny Loredo and Hernandez and were both solo shots.
Southwest Baptist comes to Kingsville with an offense currently averaging better than 13 runs per game. The Bearcats have scored in double figures all four of their games so far this year and their one loss came in a 17-14 slugfest against East Central University. As a team, SBU is batting .388 led by Andrew Meier's .588 BA. Meier has driven in seven runs through four games while junior Hunter Hisky knocked in 10 and earned recognition as Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association player of the week. One year ago, the Bobcats posted a record of 30-21 and went 20-16 in the MIAA, but they finished the season by losing nine of their final 11 and were swiftly eliminated from the conference, taking loses in their first two games. Hisky was honored as an All-American after breaking the program record for hits in season with 83 while hitting. 399. Hisky was also named all-region, along with Meier who hit .408 as a freshman.
Fans can follow all four games through Javelinaathletics.com and that's where they'll also find each postgame recap. To keep up with all things Javelina athletics be sure to log onto javelinaathletics.com.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.
