CANYON, Texas – The No. 27 Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program had the lead through most of the contest against No. 21/T30 Colorado School of Mines on Friday at Wilder Park, but fell in extra innings at the NCAA South Central Regional, 9-7.
The Javelinas (38-15) held a 7-6 advantage with two outs in the top of the ninth before the Orediggers (37-16) turned to 2018 South Central Region Player of the Year Mikey Gangwish to knot the game at seven before a go-ahead home run from Colton Wardle in the top of the 11th put CSM ahead for good.
The Hogs got on the board early after junior
Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba) reached on a fielder's choice ground ball in the bottom of the first to score redshirt-sophomore
Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas), and got three more in the second after junior
Alex Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) started the rally with a fielder's choice ground ball to second that gave senior
Austin Ingraham (Fort Worth, Texas) a window to score.
Ullman followed up with a double back up the middle that plated Gonzalez later in the frame and ended up scoring on a wild pitch during senior
Levi Zents' (Fort Worth, Texas) free pass, putting TAMUK up 4-0 on the Orediggers.
CSM retook the lead after a couple unlucky breaks for the Javelinas in the top of the third as Wardle started the scoring with a single back up the middle that brought Griffin Jones home after he led the inning off with a double to left.
The Orediggers loaded up the bases after a towering pop up behind second base fell to the ground untouched with one out as the batted ball got caught in the jet stream, akin to the bases-clearing double Colorado Mesa turned the previous day during the bottom of the sixth.
Gangwish brought everyone home after he pushed a fly ball to deep left field that was carried over the fence behind a strong tailwind, putting the Hogs in a 5-4 deficit heading into the home half of the third.
Gonzalez would even the line score at five apiece in the bottom half of the frame after he bounced a single through the right side to score junior
Dylan Hutcheson (Wichita Falls, Texas) before the Hogs regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of a wild pitch from Walter Pennington.
TAMUK got its final run in the sixth after Zents skied a sacrifice fly to center to bring Ullman home for a 7-5 Javelina lead.
The Orediggers tacked on a sixth run in the top of the eighth after Jones found a gap through the right side of the diamond before Gangwish's heroics in the ninth sent the game to extras.
Wardle's home run in the 11th, combined with Gangwish's RBI double to right, proved enough to keep the Hogs on the backend of the 9-7 decision.
Now in the elimination bracket, the Javelinas will face West Texas A&M at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, May 19, with the winner moving on to face CSM at 7 p.m. CT the same day. The Buffs fell to St. Edward's earlier on Friday to set the stage for the Lone Star matchup in the South Central Regional.
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