KINGSVILLE, Texas - The [6/5] Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program will look to rebound from a slow start to the 2019 campaign this weekend with a trip to Cleburne, Texas, for the Alpine Fresh 4-Him Classic hosted by Colorado Christian.

The Javelinas are fresh off a trip from Minute Maid Park at the 2019 Houston Winter Invitational where a rough start to the season forced the Hogs into three straight losses to open the year.

TAMUK fell to [RV/39] St. Cloud State at 7-2 on the first day of the invitational, with senior Preston Plovanich (Santa Fe, Texas) turning in a solid outing on the hill with eight punchouts in six innings of work before taking the loss.

The Blue and Gold were defeated by a count of 11-6 from [20/22] Central Missouri on the second day, despite a late-inning surge with four runs courtesy of redshirt senior Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas), sophomore Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) and junior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas), while Arkansas Tech rallied for 11 runs between the final two innings to hand TAMUK a 13-11 heartbreaker on the final day of competition.

Coming out of the week, junior Zach Boyett (Robinson, Texas) added a dominant start on the mound to complement Plovanich as the newcomer from Weatherford College threw five innings of two-run ball alongside a pair of strikeouts for his first appearance in for the Javelinas.

Loredo currently leads the team with a .500 clip at the plate, swinging for six hits in 12 at bats and adding four RBI and a pair of free passes. Senior Dylan Hutcheson (Wichita Falls, Texas) added a .400 rate to the Blue and Gold offense with four hits in 10 at bats, while junior Seth Spinn (Holland, Texas) was the other Javelina over .300 on the weekend with a .364 batting average.

Senior Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba) provided some power at the dish with the only triple on the weekend, coming in the top of the fourth inning in the contest against UCM, while redshirt junior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) drilled the first home run of 2019 for TAMUK with a shot into the Crawford Boxes in left field during the fifth inning in the matchup with ATU.

Ullman was the lone Javelina to record a home run for the Hogs during the Division-II College World Series, coming as a solo shot in the 9-0 win over Mercyhurst.

Game one of the 4-Him Classic will take place on Thursday, February 7, against Newman at Corbitt Field at All Saints High School in Fort Worth, Texas.

Stay up-to-date with everything Javelina baseball at JavelinaAthletics.com, follow the program on Twitter @JavelinaBSB and see recent news on Facebook at /JavelinaBSB

-JAVELINAS-