CANYON, Texas – One year after falling in the semifinal shootout to the same opponent, the Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program rode the arm of senior Preston Plovanich (Santa Fe, Texas) to a shutout of Tarleton on Thursday at Wilder Park to open the 2019 Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship presented by Under Armour. 

"We got a great performance from Preston today," said head coach Jason Gonzales. "He pitched like an ace is supposed to and he gave his hitters a chance. Our hitters grinded out some good at bats against a good arm. 

"We're looking forward to tomorrow." 

The Javelinas (30-19) enacted their revenge against the Texans (15-36) after taking an early exit in the 2018 version of the championship. TSU bested TAMUK in the semifinal last year at the same venue by a score of 21-20.

Plovanich threw eight scoreless innings for the Blue and Gold with four punchouts and scattered six hits over the course of his outing. Senior Garrett Alexander (Spring, Texas) threw a perfect ninth with one strikeout to secure the Hogs' position in Friday's semifinal matchup against second-seeded No. 14/8 West Texas A&M. 

The Javelina bats went to work quickly in the bottom of the second after redshirt senior Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) dropped a two-run single into the left center gap to plate classmate Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba) and junior Cameron Melcher (Kerrville, Texas) for a 2-0 lead going into the third. 

TAMUK padded the lead in the fifth after junior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas) and sophomore Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) poked identical RBI singles that ended up in center field for a four-run cushion. 

Loredo added another run in the bottom of the sixth as he pushed a one-run single back up the middle, while redshirt junior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) brought home freshman Steven Bonuz (Port Lavaca, Texas) on an infield single in the eighth. 

Meanwhile, Plovanich worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second without any runs, and found himself in another two-on, one-out jam in the sixth before getting the 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.

Loredo led all hitters as he was a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate in the game, while Servin and Hernandez each added two.

Following the win, TAMUK will now move onto the semifinal set for Friday, May 10, with first pitch set for 7 p.m. at Wilder Park. 

To keep up-to-date with Javelina Baseball, follow the program on Facebook at /JavelinaBaseball, or on Twitter @JavelinaBSB 

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