KINGSVILLE, Texas – Senior
Austin Ingraham sent a pair of leadoff solo shots to left field on Friday night at Nolan Ryan Field to lead the No. 19 Texas A&M University-Kingsville baseball program past No. 5 West Texas A&M at 9-4 to open the four-game non-conference series.
The Javelinas (13-2) sent five runs across the plate in a controversial fourth inning and used five scoreless innings from junior
Joshua Valdez (1-0) to take game one over the visiting Buffs (15-3).
TAMUK opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first after senior
Levi Zents roped a single into right to plate classmate
Christian Caudle for a 1-0 lead heading into the second.
West Texas A&M responded in the top of second frame after Nelson Paredes sent a bases-loaded, one-run liner into center to bring home Christian Loya, but junior
Preston Plovanich worked out of the one-out jam with a fly ball and fielder's choice groundball to end the threat.
Nick Canas padded the Buffs' lead with an RBI double to right center in the top of the third to trade places with Luis Amaro on the base paths, while a two-run double from Bodie Bryan in the top of the fourth plated Justice Nakagawa and Brandon Marrero for a 4-1 lead favoring the visitors heading into the bottom half of the stanza.
The bottom of the fourth started off congenially enough after Caudle drew a leadoff walk, while senior
Dallas Stefano followed up with a one-out single and junior
Pablo Hernandez loaded the bases with another single to bring up junior
Dylan Hutcheson.
Hutcheson sent a deep drive into straightaway center field and the initial ruling was a hit as the center fielder failed to catch the ball. Stefano and Caudle both ended up scoring on the play but Hernandez was rung up at third after some confusion following the initial call on Hutcheson's batted ball.
Hutcheson was held up at first, thinking his deep line drive was caught by West Texas A&M, forcing Hernandez to get hung up in no-man's land between second and third.
The officiating crew met to discuss the call and eventually ruled that Hutcheson's line drive was not caught, resulting in two outs and two runs scoring for the Hogs.
West Texas A&M did not agree with the call, having already cleared the field believing three outs had been recorded, prompting the head coach to discuss the call at length with the umpire-in-chief.
After the discussion, West Texas A&M's head coach was given the heave-ho and play resumed with two outs and Hutcheson on first.
Junior
Manny Loredo kept momentum in TAMUK's favor with an RBI double to right center to cap Hutcheson, while redshirt-junior
Alex Gonzalez followed suit with an RBI double down the left field line to bring Loredo home.
Redshirt-sophomore
Kohl Ullman set the line score at 6-4 heading into the fifth with his liner into right that scored Gonzalez.
Head coach
Jason Gonzales went to the bullpen in the fifth to keep the Buffs at bay as Valdez replaced Plovanich on the mound and started his outing with a three-up, three-down inning behind a pair of punchouts. Valdez finished the game with five strikeouts and scattered five hits over five innings of work.
Ingraham drove the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth over the left field fence, and repeated the feat in the bottom of the seventh on the second pitch of the at bat for an 8-4 Javelina lead.
Ullman finalized the scoring at 9-4 in the bottom of the eighth with a safety squeeze bunt that brought in Hutcheson.
Valdez found himself in a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the top of the ninth, but sat Canas down on strikes before getting a fly ball from Darius Carter to end the game.
Games two and three of the four-game slate will take place on Saturday, March 9, at Nolan Ryan Field, with the first pitch of the doubleheader scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.
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