KINGSVILLE, Texas - The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program jumped out to an early lead against No. 1 Angelo State on Sunday at Nolan Ryan Field and staved off a handful of late-game rallies to pick up a win in the Lone Star Conference series finale at 6-2.
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The Javelinas (13-6, 12-6 LSC) rode the arm of junior Kolby Lunsford (Helotes, Texas) who held the top-ranked Rams (17-3, 12-3 LSC) to their second-lowest scoring output of the year. Lunsford struck out six over 6.1 innings on the hill for his third win and scattered six hits from a lineup that owns the best team batting average among all LSC programs.
ASU threatened to put runs on the board early in the top of the first after Nick Seginowich dropped a single into right on a hit-and-run to put runners at the corners with two outs. Lunsford settled back in on the next Ram, however, and got the fly ball from Aaron Walters out to left field to end the at bat.
From there, Lunsford sat down four of the next six leadoff batters he faced and gave up only three hits over the next five innings before running into trouble in the seventh.
The Hogs, meanwhile, put up four runs on Matt Szabo in the bottom of the first after a bunt single from freshman Damian Rodriguez (McAllen, Texas) loaded the bases with nobody out.
Szabo sat the next two Javelinas down on strikes before senior Aldo Buendia (Laredo, Texas) dropped a Texas-leaguer into shallow right center for two runs, while freshman Garrett Thompson (New Braunfels, Texas) bounced a high-chopper back up the middle for the third run.
Thompson and Buendia teamed up for the double steal in the next at bat to complete the 4-0 lead heading into the second.
Angelo State got one back in the top of the fifth by virtue of a few Javelina miscues. Thomas Cain got on base from a bobbled ground ball and later stole second but moved up to third on an errant throw down. A ground ball from Parker Bramlett was fielded cleanly in the following at bat but the mishandled throw granted Cain access to the plate for a 4-1 score.
TAMUK got two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth after redshirt senior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) poked a single into left center that plated classmate Cameron Melcher (Kerrville, Texas) with two outs. Melcher ripped a two-out double to right center on the first pitch of his trip to the batter's box before he came home on the single from Ullman.
Ullman later scored after a wild pitch from Carson Childers skipped away from Seginowich that gave the Houston native enough room to come home all the way from second, giving the Hogs a 6-1 lead going into the seventh.
Lunsford went out in the seventh despite closing in on 100 pitches and sat the first batter down on strikes before giving up a double to Jackson Hardy. A bit of miscommunication on a single from Cain in the next at bat allowed the Ram to get to second on a run down and Hardy ended up scoring in the process.
Buendia came in relief for Lunsford after a walk was issued to Bramlett and the senior transfer from UTSA got an infield fly from the league's leading hitter in Josh Elvir before a brilliant diving catch from Ullman out in shallow left field saved another run.
Given the green light the rest of the way, Buendia picked up his team-leading fourth save, tied for the most saves among the conference's pitchers.
The Javelinas hit the road next week and return to action on April 1 in Tyler, Texas, for the first of three games against UT Tyler.
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