KINGSVILLE, Texas - The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program returns to action this weekend with a three-game Lone Star Conference series against Oklahoma Christian on the road.
Game one of the series starts Friday, March 5, at Dobson Field in Oklahoma City with first pitch set for 5 p.m. CT. Game two will take place Saturday, March 6 at 2 p.m. CT and the series concludes Sunday, March 7, at 1 p.m. CT.
The Javelinas opened their season on the road against Texas A&M International on February 21-22. The Dustdevils took game one at 12-6 before the Hogs responded with a 13-0 shutout in game two and an 8-5 win in game three against head coach Jason Gonzales' former understudy Philip Middleton who was named TAMIU's newest skipper in the fall of 2020.
Senior Seth Spinn (Holland, Texas) collected three hits in the season opener in Laredo, Texas, while junior Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) skied two home runs alongside another from senior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas) in the game two rout. Servin added another home run in game three to flip the 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 advantage en route to the series win.
Redshirt junior Amado Almanzar (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) took the win in the shutout as he threw five scoreless innings and struck out six for the decision. Sophomore Matthew Sesler (Harlingen, Texas) picked up the other in the series for the Javelinas.
The matchup against UAFS the next week saw TAMUK take a 7-1 victory in game one as junior Kolby Lunsford (Helotes, Texas) was given the reins and turned in five innings on the hill with seven strikeouts for the win. The Lions took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first before the Javelinas responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame and never looked back.
Game two saw the visitors hand the Blue and Gold a 13-1 loss, while game three needed last-minute heroics from Spinn, redshirt senior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) and freshman Damian Rodriguez (McAllen, Texas) to clinch the series. The Hogs entered the bottom of the ninth down 3-1 before Rodriguez's first career home run led off the stanza.
Ullman followed up with an RBI double to left to knot the game at three apiece, while Spinn brought him home with a single poked into right for the win.
Junior transfer Logan Garza (Round Rock, Texas) threw a gem for the Javelinas as he went seven innings with 12 strikeouts and one run allowed for the no-decision. It was the first time a Hog hurler retired at least 12 batters on strike since 2018 when junior Tyler Flores (San Antonio, Texas), then in the midst of an LSC Freshman of the Year campaign, and Isaiah Lybarger accomplished the feat thrice.
On the year, Spinn leads TAMUK with a .500 clip at the plate and a team-leading 12 hits. Servin is batting .421 with eight hits, three of which have sailed over the fence, followed by De Leon and Rodriguez hitting .333 and .300, respectively.
Garza lowered his season ERA to 3.24 following his seven-inning performance alongside a team-high 16 strikeouts through two starts. Meanwhile, Lunsford, Almanzar, Sesler and senior Alex Canul (Edinburg, Texas) have all recorded wins on the hill.
OC is led by Blake Empkey at the plate who has crafted a .438 average on a team-high 14 hits, five of which dropped in as doubles with another three as home runs. He will be joined by Michael DiFiore with a .394 clip, Errett Edwards with a .387 mark and Cole Lee hitting .300.
Julien Ly had made two appearances for the Eagles, including one start, and owns a 0.93 ERA with a 1-0 record and 10 strikeouts across 9.2 innings pitched. Gabe Rodery, a mainstay in the OC rotation, is back with a 2-0 mark, 12 strikeouts and a 3.45 ERA in 15.2 innings on the bump.
The Eagles own a 4-3 record after dropping two of three to St. Mary's to begin the 2021 campaign. A two-week postponement due to inclement weather took hold that canceled series against Lubbock Christian and Angelo State before OC returned to action on February 26 and snagged two wins in the series against TAMIU.
The most recent outing featured a non-conference opponent for the Eagles, who posted a 13-6 win over Southern Nazarene on March 2.
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