KINGSVILLE, Texas – The No. 19 Texas A&M University-Kingsville baseball program turned to junior Joshua Valdez (Kyle, Texas) for the five-out save on Friday night at Nolan Ryan Field against UT-Permian Basin with the bases-loaded and one out on the board in the top of the eighth.

Valdez fanned the next two Falcons (6-32, 2-11 LSC) and struck out three more in the top of the ninth to secure his third save of the year for the Javelinas (29-9, 8-5 LSC) on the heels of a 5-3 decision.

Redshirt-freshman Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas) started the scoring for the hosts in the bottom of the second when he roped a double into right on the first pitch he saw to plate sophomore Brad Jones (Crandall, Texas) and junior Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba), while redshirt-sophomore Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) added a third with an RBI groundball to second later in the frame.

The Falcons trimmed the lead to one over the next two innings, first with a solo shot to left from Chris Ortega in the top of the third before Simon Clarke doubled down the left field line in the fourth for the second, setting the line score at 3-2 heading into the fifth.

The Hogs responded when Hernandez drew a walk in the fifth on a wild pitch that allowed junior Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) to score, while senior Levi Zents (Fort Worth, Texas) ended up crossing on a balk from Andrew Loudermilk with two outs for a three-run cushion.

Loudermilk would take the loss for the visitors while freshman Tyler Flores (San Antonio, Texas) improved to 5-0 behind 10 strikeouts across seven innings pitched.

UTPB got a third run across in the sixth after Skyler Palermo drove the third pitch over the left field wall with the bases empty, but Flores would settle in and strike out the next two batters before striking out two more in the seventh to end his outing.

Valdez took over with one out and bases loaded in the top of the eighth and needed only eight pitches between the next two batters to end the threat. Meanwhile, the Falcons got the leadoff runner aboard in the top of the ninth before Valdez sat the next three down on strikes to end the game.

Senior Christian Caudle (Klein, Texas) made a triumphant return to the diamond on Friday night as he took his normal spot behind the plate in the top of the eighth to backstop the final two innings of the game and posted an infield single in his lone at bat in the bottom half of the stanza. Caudle had missed the previous seven games after taking a pitch off the chin in game two of the series against then-No. 17 Angelo State.

The Javelinas will take on the Falcons in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 21, for games two and three of the Lone Star series, with first pitch set for 1 p.m. CT at Nolan Ryan Field.

#####