CARY, N.C. – The No. 26 Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program had its historic run at the Division-II College World Series come to a close on Wednesday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex as top-seeded No. 3/3 Florida Southern took the decision in the elimination game, 8-0.
The Javelinas (42-17) faced another early deficit in the CWS after the Mocs (44-10-1) got a two-out solo shot from Austin Mauer in the top of the first inning despite TAMUK senior
Isaiah Lybarger (Corpus Christi, Texas) retiring the first two batters of the game.
The Hogs got a two-out single from senior
Levi Zents (Fort Worth, Texas) in the bottom half of the frame, but was stranded on the basepaths, while classmate
Christian Caudle (Klein, Texas) singled to lead off the home half of the second and got all the way to third on an errant throw from Mauer following a failed back-pick attempt.
Unfortunately, Caudle would get stuck on the island as well as FSC starter J.T. Hintzen sat down the final two batters of the stanza to end the scoring threat.
TAMUK was held without a hit through the next five innings as Hintzen kept the Blue and Gold bats quiet through a mix of off-speed and breaking-ball pitches before senior
Travis Geiser (Portland, Texas) ended the hitless streak with a double to left in the bottom of the eighth.
Meanwhile, the Mocs tacked on another in the fourth when Hayden Marze laced the second pitch he saw over the left field wall before Omar Villaman added a third run in the fifth on a RBI single through the right half of the diamond.
Marze tallied his second leadoff solo shot of the game in the sixth for a four-run FSC cushion while a four-run eighth put the Javelinas in a hole they could not climb out of en route to the decision.
Despite the unfavorable exit, the Hogs still have plenty to celebrate after battling back through the elimination bracket in the NCAA South Central Regional to claim their first-ever regional championship and berth to the Division-II College World Series.
TAMUK also experienced it's first-ever win in the CWS after 2018 LSC Freshman of the Year
Tyler Flores (San Antonio, Texas) bore the brunt of the work in a 9-0 win over Mercyhurst on Tuesday, May 29, that also featured the first home run of the season from redshirt-sophomore
Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas).
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