KINGSVILLE, Texas - The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program completed the series sweep of Oklahoma Christian on Sunday at Nolan Ryan Field with a hard-fought 13-10 win in game three of the Lone Star Conference matchup to open the 2020 season.

"Those opportunities don't come around too often," said head coach Jason Gonzales, "and when you have that opportunity, and you're at home, you have to do everything you can because this is a very tough league.

"We let them back into the game in the last two innings, but I was proud [of how they responded] and in this league, it's a tough thing to do to win all three games."

The Javelinas (3-0, 3-0 LSC) wasted little time at the plate as a sacrifice fly to center from junior Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) brought senior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas) home in the bottom of the first to crack the egg. A double down the right-field line from senior Aldo Buendia (Laredo, Texas) tacked on two more in the bottom of the second as redshirt junior Hayden Fails (Sweeny, Texas) and freshman Damian Rodriguez (McAllen, Texas) both scored.

The Eagles (0-3, 0-3 LSC) got a run back in the top of the third after Grant Lake took an RBI groundout to Buendia, but the Hogs posted three more in the third started by a double to right-center from sophomore Steven Bonuz (Port Lavaca, Texas) that plated Servin.

Fails, seeing his first start of 2020, ripped a triple down the right-field line later in the frame that capped Rodriguez before he scored after the pitching change courtesy of a balk issued to OC hurler Chase Berberich for a 6-1 lead.

The visitors trimmed the gap to three runs in the top of the fourth after Jayvien Joseph posted the second of three triples for his team, but the Javelinas racked up four more in the bottom half of the stanza when Servin started the rally with a double to deep center that brought in De Leon.

Redshirt junior Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas) skied a sacrifice fly to left for the second run, with senior Seth Spinn (Holland, Texas) coming home, while Fails recorded his third hit of the day on a bounding-ball single through the right side to score Bonuz and Servin.

In total, the Hogs had their leadoff batter reach safely in each of the first four innings as they pushed their lead to 10-3 going into the fifth.

Another OC triple in the top of the following frame was quickly matched by two runs from the hosts in the bottom of the fifth, as a wild pitch scored Spinn for the first before a bases-loaded walk issued to Rodriguez brought Servin across for the second.

Redshirt senior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) provided the final run for TAMUK in the bottom of the seventh with his double through the left half of the diamond sending Rodriguez back home for a 13-5 cushion going into the eighth.

The Eagles did most of their damage in the final two at-bats as they tallied two in the eighth, one on a wild pitch and another on a bounding-ball single through the left side of the infield, and grabbed three more in the ninth to force junior Chase Glover (Fort Worth, Texas) out of the bullpen. Glover recorded the final two outs of the contest to secure his second save of the young season with one punchout.

Redshirt senior Alex Canul (Edinburg, Texas) got the start for the Hogs and went four innings on the mound with three strikeouts for the no-decision. Sophomore Bryce Galvan (Blessing, Texas) was credited with his first career win as he was the first arm out of the bullpen and responded with two innings of one-run ball and four punchouts.

Fails finished his day at the plate with three hits in four at-bats along with three RBI and two runs scored in his seventh career start. He matched his career-best of three hits set back in the 2018 season on May 5 in a 7-3 win over Cameron where he also scored two runs for TAMUK in what was his fifth career start.

"Overall, as a team, we went into today knowing we had to be aggressive because they throw a lot of strikes," said Fails, "and that was on my mind when I was getting my at-bats. I was looking to be aggressive, and a couple of times I fell down in the count, but kept a short approach and put the ball in play. So good things happened."

Seven of the Hogs' 14 hits went for extra-bases, with De Leon, Servin, Bonuz, Ullman, Buendia and senior Cameron Melcher (Kerrville, Texas) all posting a double to the lone triple from Fails. Bonuz and Rodriguez both led the team with three walks while Servin and Buendia both tallied two RBI.

The Javelinas will take to the road this coming weekend as they visit Lawton, Okla., starting on Friday, February 7, for the second three-game series of the 2020 schedule against Cameron.

Watch your Javelinas live on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy. 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-