KINGSVILLE, Texas – The No. 19 Texas A&M University-Kingsville baseball program used some seventh-inning heroics to send the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Nolan Ryan Field into extra innings against No. 5 West Texas A&M, but couldn't find the winning combination en route to an 8-5 loss.

The Javelinas (14-3) rebounded in game two against the Buffs (16-4) with more late-game heroics to take the split on the day at 5-4.

GAME ONE (11 Innings)

The Buffs struck first on the frontend of the doubleheader after Luis Amaro grounded out to second base to plate Bodie Bryan in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 lead.

The visitors added three more in the fourth inning behind a sacrifice fly from Nick Canas and back-to-back doubles from Tag Baxter and Tommy Williams for a 4-0 West Texas A&M lead heading into the fifth.

WT added one more in the sixth following a sacrifice fly from Darius Carter to set the stage for TAMUK's rally.

Senior Austin Ingraham brought in junior Manny Loredo in the bottom of the sixth with a single back up the middle to chip away at the lead with a 5-1 deficit heading into the seventh.

Senior Dallas Stefano took the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the seventh into the right center and ended up at third to plate classmate Levi Zents before he scored on a liner into left from junior Dylan Hutcheson to cut the Buffs' lead to 5-3.

Loredo became the hero for the moment as he took the first pitch of his at bat over the right field wall to knot the score at 5-5 with his second home run of the year.

The Javelinas had an opportunity to take the win as redshirt-sophomore Kohl Ullman drew a two-out walk, but Dominic Yearego sat down the final batter on strikes to send the contest into extra innings.

Both sides went back-and-forth through the next three innings before West Texas A&M took advantage of a TAMUK miscue in the top of the eleventh to break the stalemate.

The Buffs had runners on second and third with two outs before Bryan sent a two-hopper to the shortstop and ended up safely on base as the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, which allowed Williams and Brandon Marrero to score.

WT added one more when Christian Loya doubled to center field to plate Bryan.

The Hogs had runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom half of the frame, but Yearego ended the game with his seventh strikeout of the contest.

GAME TWO

TAMUK refused to let the first game weigh it down as sophomore Hayden Fails advanced to third on a wild pitch in the bottom of the third and scored on a throwing error by the catcher for a 1-0 Javelina lead.

Ingraham pulled the 3-0 pitch of his at bat later in the inning to left field for this third round-tripper of the series to bring in senior Travis Geiser, while junior Pablo Hernandez bounced a pitch off the third base bag to cap redshirt-freshman Will Arnold from second for a 4-0 lead favoring the Hogs heading into the fourth.

Nick Guaragna drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the fourth to get the Buffs on the board, while Bryan cleared said bases with a double to deep left field to even the count at 4-4 heading into the bottom half of the stanza.

The Hogs took their turn to load the bases with one out in the sixth as freshman Giancarlo Servin and redshirt-junior Tim Gleinser were both hit by a pitch before Fails dropped a single into shallow center field.

The hosts capitalized on a WT miscue after redshirt-junior Alex Gonzalez skied a fly ball to shallow left that was misplayed by the shortstop and allowed Servin to score for a 5-4 Javelina lead.

The Buffs got out of the inning with minimal damage as Fails was thrown out at second on the same play before Tate Huebner induced a lineout from Geiser.

West Texas A&M got two runners on with one out in the top of the seventh before head coach Jason Gonzales elected to go to freshman Tyler Flores for the save opportunity.

Flores struck out Jimmy Cubillos on five pitches before Amaro drew a walk to load the bases. The San Antonio, Texas, native settled in and induced a groundout from Loya to end the game for his first save of the year.

Redshirt-senior Lee May Gonzalez secured his third win of the year with three strikeouts in six innings of work.

The Javelinas will wrap the four-game series with the Buffs on Sunday, March 11, with the first pitch of the nine-inning affair scheduled for 1 p.m. CT at Nolan Ryan Field.

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