OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program dropped its Lone Star Conference series opener to Oklahoma Christian on Friday at Dobson Field by a final score of 7-2.
"Disappointing to lose the first game of a series," said head coach Jason Gonzales. "I expect us to fight back all weekend and be competitive."
The Javelinas (4-3, 4-3 LSC) jumped out to an early lead against the Eagles (5-3, 4-3 LSC) but surrendered the tying run in the bottom of the fourth before the hosts tacked on five more the rest of the way for the decision.
TAMUK's two runs came in the opening at bat after seniors Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) and Seth Spinn (Holland, Texas) connected for back-to-back singles for freshman Damian Rodriguez (McAllen, Texas), who roped a double into left with two outs to plate the pair.
OC got one back by the bottom of the third after Blake Empkey reached on a Javelina miscue that allowed Drew Wright to come home. The tying run showed up in the bottom of the next inning after a sacrifice fly to right from Coleton Hinkle scored Errett Edwards, who ended up at third on another Blue and Gold error for the second unearned run in as many innings.
In total, five of the seven runs scored by the Eagles were not earned in the game as the Hogs were plagued by four errors on the evening.
The go-ahead run ended up at home in the bottom of the fifth, this time on a sacrifice fly to center field from Empkey that scored Kevin Collyar. OC tacked on one more in the seventh on a Michael DiFiore single to center before tallying three runs in the eighth, two of which touched home after the bases were loaded with one out.
The Javelinas left the bases loaded twice in the game, both with two outs, as OC starting pitcher Gabe Rodery struck out the final batter in the sixth to squelch the rally before another strikeout in the sixth brought that stanza to an end. The Eagles turned to Cody Johnson in the eighth and Noah Bates in the ninth to secure the win.
Ullman and Rodriguez were the two Hogs to post multiple hits as each finished with two. Rodriguez and classmate Matthew Castro (Corpus Christi, Texas) tabbed the two extra-base hits as Rodriguez's double in the first was matched by Castro when he led off the second.
Junior Kolby Lunsford (Helotes, Texas) was billed as the starting pitcher and took the loss to move to 1-2 on the year. He struck out eight in 6.2 innings of work and allowed seven hits to only four runs, but only one of those runs went into the books as earned.
Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. CT at Dobson Field on Saturday, March 6.
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