STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The No. 14 Texas A&M University-Kingsville baseball program put up 14 runs in the final game of the Lone Star opener against Tarleton State on Sunday at the Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex to tally its 20th win of the 2018 campaign.

The Javelinas (20-7, 1-3 LSC) got nine combined RBI from seniors Levi Zents (Fort Worth, Texas) and Dallas Stefano (Cypress, Texas) to end the contest early against the Texans (18-10, 3-1 LSC) and helped head coach Jason Gonzales inch closer to career win no. 300 at the helm of the Blue and Gold.

Gonzales currently owns 298 wins in his tenth season as the skipper of TAMUK baseball.

Zents posted his first RBI of the day in the top of the first frame with a sacrifice fly to center field to plate redshirt-sophomore Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas), and would add three more in a bases-clearing double to the left center gap in the top of the second.

Redshirt-freshman Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas) started the rally in the second as his double to the right center gap brought in juniors Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba) and Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) before Zents set the line score at 6-1 heading into the bottom half of the stanza.

Tarleton State got its lone run on a single from Ruben Rodriguez in the bottom of the third, but the Hogs kept a deluge of runs flowing in the fourth as Zents pushed another one home on a bases-loaded walk.

Stefano moved TAMUK's run total to 10 through four innings with his own bases-clearing double to left center, mirroring Zent's hit in the second, before getting one more in the top of the sixth with another double between the left and center fielders to cap redshirt-junior Alex Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas).

Loredo's sacrifice fly to center field brought Zents home later in the sixth and Hernandez put the exclamation point on the rally with a two-run moonshot to left field for a 14-1 advantage favoring the visitors.

Freshman Tyler Flores (San Antonio, Texas) took the win in his first career start, going five innings of four-hit ball with four punchouts to move to 2-0 with two saves in 2018, while junior Joshua Valdez (Kyle, Texas) got the bill for the sixth and seventh innings and kept the Texans hitless to go with three strikeouts of his own.

The Javelinas will have the next week off from LSC play but will face Our Lady of the Lake in a one-game affair on Tuesday, March 27, at Nolan Ryan Field. The Hogs will resume the Lone Star schedule on April 6 at home against No. RV Angelo State.

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