PORTALES, N.M. – It was the tale of two games on Sunday at Greyhound field as the No. RV/17 Texas A&M University-Kingsville baseball program was locked in a pitcher's duel for first game of the doubleheader before an offensive onslaught highlighted the second game against Eastern New Mexico.

The Javelinas (27-9, 6-5 LSC) dropped the first contest at 3-2 to the Greyhounds (17-18, 3-12 LSC) but stormed back for a 17-11 decision in the second to take the Sunday split.

GAME ONE

Senior Kyle Craft (Victoria, Texas) got the bill in the first game and suffered his first loss of the year despite a solid outing of four innings pitched and only three runs given up. His record now stands at 5-1 through seven starts while his ERA took a bump to 2.21.

The Hounds posted two in the opening frame off a triple to left center from Endy Villalona and got their third run of the game in the bottom of the second on a single into center from Zach Shank while the Hogs remained scoreless.

The Javelinas finally got on the board in the fourth inning after redshirt-senior Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas) reached on an ENMU miscue that allowed junior Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) to score, while a throwing error by the left fielder on the same play granted junior Dylan Hutcheson (Wichita Falls, Texas) access to the plate to trim the deficit to 3-2 heading into the fifth.

Craft had settled into a rhythm at that point with only two hits between the third and fourth innings before he got the hook for senior Seth Hubert (Riviera, Texas) in the fifth who turned in a pair of near-perfect innings.

TAMUK had two opportunities to at least tie the game starting in the fifth after senior Austin Ingraham (Fort Worth, Texas) laced a double down the left field line and ended up at third once senior Dallas Stefano (Cypress, Texas) drew a walk and pulled off the double steal later in the frame.

A timely pitching change from the hosts proved to be the difference as Levi Shandrew came in relief for Enrique Perez following the walk to Stefano and induced a fly ball from the final Javelina to end the threat.

Perez would take the win for Eastern N.M. to move to 4-3 on the year while Shandrew would eventually record his fourth save.

The Hogs got the leadoff runner in the seventh stanza aboard after redshirt-junior Alex Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) drew a four-pitch walk and made it to second following a sacrifice bunt from redshirt-sophomore Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas).

Unfortunately, the comeback effort would fall short as Shandrew struck out one Javelina before getting the other to fly out to right to end the game.

GAME TWO

The second game turned into a heavyweight bout as both sides traded punches and combined for 28 runs on 28 hits with the Hogs taking advantage of ENMU issuing 11 walks in the game; six of which came in the first inning that led to three pitching changes from the hosts.

Four of the first five Javelina batters of the game drew a walk, with a fifth getting plunked on the third pitch of the at bat, and the end result was an RBI free pass for Stefano to start the scoring in the opening inning.

Junior Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba) followed up with an RBI walk of his own before Loredo went the conventional route and drove his first RBI single back up the middle to bring in Stefano and senior Levi Zents (Fort Worth, Texas).

Hutcheson drew the sixth walk of the frame to push another run home before Ullman plated the sixth run for the visitors on a sacrifice fly to right for a 6-0 lead heading into the second.

TAMUK kept the floodgates open in the second as Loredo added his second two-run single up the middle in as many at bats to cap Hernandez and Stefano, while a two-run jack from freshman Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) set the Javelinas' run total at 10 going into the bottom half of the inning.

Servin took the first three pitches of the at bat for a ball before getting the fourth right in his wheelhouse and sent a screamer over the left field wall for his first round-tripper of the year.

ENMU got on the board in the bottom of the second with an RBI single through the right side from Eurick Perez before junior Preston Plovanich (Santa Fe, Texas) ended the inning on a comebacker off the first pitch.

Plovanich would take the no-decision after 3.1 innings of work and got the hook for sophomore Tyler Crouch (Bulverde, Texas) who secured his first win of the year after working out of the fourth. Redshirt-senior Trey Taylor (Leander, Texas) took over in the fifth before classmate Lee May Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) got the bill in the following inning, while senior Jarred Taylor (Vidor, Texas) ended the game for the Hogs on the mound.

The scoring was far from over as TAMUK tacked on four more to its total in the top of the third, getting one on a sacrifice fly from Stefano before two came home on a triple to right from sophomore Brad Jones (Crandall, Texas).

Senior Travis Geiser (Portland, Texas) added the fourth with a pinch-hit RBI single up the middle before staying in the game in right field.

The Greyhounds stayed in the game with four runs in their half of the third while the Javelinas posted three more in the top of the fourth thanks to a double down the left field line from sophomore David De La Cruz, Jr. (Alice, Texas), a single up the middle from Zents and a liner into right from Jones.

ENMU tallied six more in the fourth, eventually prompting a pitching change from the visitors, but both sides settled down as the river of runs dried up in the fifth with neither side gaining or losing ground through the remainder of the game.

J. Taylor took over for Gonzalez in the seventh on the mound for the Blue and Gold and secured the split with a fly ball, strikeout and popup to end the contest.

The Javelinas will close the Lone Star series against the Greyhounds with game four on Monday, April 15, at Greyhound field. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.

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