KINGSVILLE, Texas - The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program battled No. 5/3 West Texas A&M to a doubleheader split on Friday to open first Lone Star Conference series of the 2019 campaign at Nolan Ryan Field.

"What we found out after the first inning in the first game, once we started throwing strikes and trusting our stuff as pitchers, is that our staff gave us a chance," said head coach Jason Gonzales. "We knew runs were going to be tough to come by, West Texas A&M has a tremendous pitching staff, but the guys hung in there and got a little bloody but they were relentless all game long.

"They didn't let the situation get too big for them, they just kept coming and some hits fell for us with runners in scoring position, so I was proud of the way we responded."

The Javelinas (17-9, 1-1 LSC) dropped game one at 6-1 after the Buffs (22-4, 1-1 LSC) posted five runs in the first inning, but battled back to an 8-0 shutout to come away with the win in game two.

GAME ONE

WT got an early jump in the top of the first inning on TAMUK with five runs to start the contest. A pair of walks and a single to center from Clay Koelzer loaded the bases with one out before a wild pitch brought the first run home.

A double play was seemingly in effect after a walk was issued to Tag Baxter, but the Buffs were able to beat out the throw at first for the second run of the frame. Another wild pitch allowed the third run to score before two more came home on a double to right center from Cade Engle.

Senior Preston Plovanich (Santa Fe, Texas) got the hook not long after after walking the first batter in the second inning, giving way to freshman Matthew Sesler (Harlingen, Texas) who went through his lone inning of work on the hill in the second.

The visitors tacked on another run later in the top of the second but were held off the board the remainder of the game as redshirt freshman Jacob Vazquez (Victoria, Texas) took over the next two innings without allowing a run.

Junior Noel Solis (Brownsville, Texas) threw a scoreless fifth before freshman Bryce Galvan (Blessing, Texas) hurled a perfect sixth, while junior Tyler Crouch (Bulverde, Texas) took over the seventh and came away with a punchout and no runs allowed.

Unfortunately, the Hogs were unable to overcome WT starter Joe Corbett who held the hosts to one run coming in the bottom of the second. Redshirt senior Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba) ended up scoring on an errant toss from the second baseman during junior Cameron Melcher's (Kerrville, Texas) at bat for the lone Blue and Gold run.

Corbett finished with nine strikeouts en route to the complete game while holding TAMUK to three hits.

Junior Seth Spinn (Holland, Texas) provided one of the hits, a double coming in the bottom of the first, while Hernandez posted a double of his own in the bottom of the second and Melcher added the final hit in the form of a bounding-ball single through the right half of the diamond in the bottom of the fourth.

GAME TWO

It was night and day in the second game for the Hogs as they turned to junior Zach Boyett (Robinson, Texas) who threw the complete-game shutout to take the split. Boyett came away with five punchouts to take the decision and was the beneficiary of a tailor-made double play in the top of the sixth with one out to squelch a potential rally.

The transfer from Weatherford also put a stop to a two-out rally in the top of the fourth with runners at second and third as he teamed up with redshirt junior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) to pick off the Buff at second to bring the inning to a close.

Meanwhile, WT turned to Darin Cook to lock down a stingy Javelina offense and kept the bats quiet through the first four innings before the hosts broke though in the fifth. Redshirt senior Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) got TAMUK on the board with a sacrifice fly to right that plated Spinn for the first run.

Spinn ended up on base after bouncing a single through the right half of the diamond on one out before a double to center from sophomore Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) put runners in scoring position for Loredo.

Servin scored on the following at bat after Hernandez pushed a ground ball deep in the hole for the shortstop to put the Blue and Gold on top at 2-0 going into the sixth.

The remaining six runs all came on the Buffs' bullpen as Spinn started the rally with a deep double that landed at the warning track in left for two runs, plating Ullman and redshirt senior Alex Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) in the process.

A bounding-ball single from Loredo into right brought the next run home as junior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas) strolled home, while a passed ball allowed Spinn to score with the bases loaded later in the at bat.

The final two runs came courtesy of a soft liner into right from redshirt sophomore Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas), while Boyett finished out the game by retiring the Buffs in order in the seventh for an 8-0 final.

Spinn was a perfect 3-for-3 from the plate in the second game, his seventh such game of the year, to extend his hitting streak to 14 games dating back to February 24 where he went 2-for-3 in the series finale against Missouri-St. Louis.

Loredo and Arnold were the other two Hogs to finish with multiple hits as the pair posted two apiece as TAMUK totaled 12 as a team.

Game three of the series against WT is set for first pitch at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 23, at Nolan Ryan Field.

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-