SAN ANTONIO – The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program used the long ball on Saturday to salvage the split in the doubleheader against St. Mary's after dropping game one at 8-6 and taking game two at 8-3 in the Lone Star Conference series at Dickson Stadium.

The Javelinas (12-9, 12-9 LSC) used four home runs on the backend against the Rattlers (11-10) and rode the arm of redshirt junior Amado Almanzar (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) to the win.

GAME ONE

The Hogs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first after junior Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) ripped a double to right center to score senior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas) for the first run. Servin came around later in the frame after an error on a groundball from Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas) opened the door for him to score.

TAMUK pushed the lead to three runs in the top of the second when De Leon skied a sacrifice fly to left that plated senior Aldo Buendia (Laredo, Texas), but StMU got a run back in the home half of the stanza when Derek Mueller dropped a single into right center to score Fernando Zubia.

An RBI single to left from senior Seth Spinn (Holland, Texas) in the third, coupled with a sacrifice fly from Buendia in the fifth, pushed the lead to 5-1 for the Javelinas, but the Rattlers tacked on three of their own in the home half of the fifth after Jake Mares started the rally with an RBI single to right to score Ryan McGowen.

Mares ended up at home later in the at-bat when Steven Wynn poked a ground ball to the left side of the infield, while Johnny Hernandez lifted a sacrifice fly for the hosts out to right to score Keaton Milford and trim the cushion to 5-4.

The lead was erased in the sixth when the Rattlers tacked on four more to their total, getting one each on a single from Mueller and Mares, while a wild pitch score McGowen and an RBI groundout from Wynn set the score at 8-5 heading into the final at-bat.

TAMUK had an opportunity to rally in the seventh as an RBI single to center from Buendia put runners at first and second with one out and the score at 8-6, but a timely pitching change from StMU squelched any hopes of a comeback as Connor Schmidt got the groundball double play to end the contest.

Junior John Mike Rodriguez (Corpus Christi, Texas) was billed as the starter for the visitors and struck out three over 5.1 innings before taking his second loss of the year.

Servin ended the contest with two hits, both doubles, and along with one RBI, one walk and one run. His hit total was matched by Buendia and senior Cameron Melcher (Kerrville, Texas) as Buendia tallied two RBI of his own.

GAME TWO

The second contest of the day saw a total of four round trippers coming from the Hogs, with Spinn responsible for two of them. He put TAMUK up early in the top of the first after he lifted the 3-2 pitch down the right field line for a solo shot before a sacrifice fly from Wynn in the bottom of the frame knotted the game at one apiece.

Servin skied a two-run jack in the top of the third to put the visitors ahead for good, getting underneath the 1-2 pitch from Mason Minister for a 3-1 edge.

Spinn doubled his long ball total in the top of the sixth when he pulled the second pitch of the at-bat over the right field wall with Servin on base to push the lead to 5-1. He was outdone by his classmate Melcher, as the senior transfer from Midland needed only one pitch for a three-run jack to right for an 8-1 cushion going into the bottom half of the stanza.

The Rattlers made a late push on Almanzar, who went 6.2 innings pitched for a new career-best, with two runs in the sixth before the transfer from UTRGV worked out of the frame with a fly ball to left and a strikeout. The hosts upped the pressure in the bottom of the seventh after loading up the bases with two outs, but it was the pitching change from the Hogs and quelled any hopes for a rally as redshirt senior Alex Canul (Edinburg, Texas) secured his first save by getting Milford looking on the 2-2 count to cement the score at 8-3.

Almanzar finished with 6.2 innings pitched and five strikeouts on 114 pitches for his second win of the year.

Spinn and Servin both ended with two hits in the contest as Spinn tacked on three RBI, two runs and a walk, while Servin posted two RBI and two runs.

Sunday's finale will start at 1 p.m. CT at Dickson Stadium with the Javelinas looking for the series split.

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

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