KINGSVILLE, Texas - On a day that was mired by inclement weather, the Texas A&M-Kingsville still sent its 2021 Senior Class out on a high note with a 5-2 win in the series finale that clinched a sweep of Eastern New Mexico on Saturday at Nolan Ryan Field in the Lone Star Conference series.
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The Javelinas (18-9, 17-9 LSC) honored a dozen Hogs with some pregame festivities in the decision over the Greyhounds (8-30, 7-28 LSC) as they cobbled together four runs between the fourth and fifth innings en route to the second series sweep of the season.
The pitching staff of the Blue and Gold shined the brightest on the day with 18 collective strikeouts in the nine-inning affair. Redshirt junior Brandon Symmank (Cypress, Texas) started the contest with three scoreless frames and five outs on strikes before giving way to classmate Logan Garza (Round Rock, Texas) who carried the combined no-hitter into the sixth and came away with his third win while picking up seven strikeouts in three innings on the hill.
Garza handed the keys off to senior Aldo Buendia (Laredo, Texas) who blanked ENMU in the seventh with a pair of punch outs, followed by junior Tyler Flores (San Antonio, Texas) who turned in a zero on the scorecard in the eighth with a strikeout of his own.
Junior Mason Foster (Dilley, Texas) closed out the game and picked up his second save of the year as he struck out the side in the ninth.
First pitch was pushed back an hour due to inclement weather overnight in the area as the teams took to the field just past the two o'clock hour. The Greyhounds went down in order in the top of the first and redshirt senior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) led off the home half of the stanza with a single into left before the rain came down and delayed the contest by about 45 minutes.
When play resumed, the Hogs wasted little time pushing the first run across after freshman Garrett Thompson (New Braunfels, Texas) doubled to right ahead of a walk issued to senior Seth Spinn (Holland, Texas) that loaded the bases.
Junior Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) bounced a fielder's choice groundball to second which resulted in Ullman crossing the plate as the hosts owned a one-run lead going into the second.
The visitors tacked on their first run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to right from Nicholas Tamez, but the Javelinas were quick to respond in the bottom of the inning when Thompson pushed a single into left-center that capped classmate Matthew Castro (Corpus Christi, Texas), while Spinn posted a mirror-image liner out to right-center to score Ullman.
Castro added the final two runs in the fifth with a single to left with redshirt junior Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas) and freshman Damian Rodriguez (McAllen, Texas) standing on the base paths. The Greyhounds added a desperation run in the sixth off a sacrifice fly to right from Rio Granger but it did little to sway momentum as the Hogs came away with the decision.
Thompson and Castro both finished with two hits on the day as the latter drove in two runs and scored once. Ullman was the lone Javelina to score multiple times as he also picked up a hit.
TAMUK closes out the regular season on the road next week with a three-game series against Cameron starting on May 7.
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