KINGSVILLE, Texas - The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program came within one out of advancing to the double-elimination portion of the 2021 Lone Star Conference Baseball Championships on Saturday at Nolan Ryan Field but gave up a three-run lead in the ninth of the first matchup before ultimately falling in the second to bring the conference tournament run to an unceremonious halt.

The Javelinas (21-12) were mired by seven errors between the two games and fell behind early on the backend as the Chaps (21-22) walked away with both decisions, 13-8 in game one and 9-5 in game two.

GAME ONE

The two sides traded blows early in the first game as LCU posted the first two runs in the opening frame on a TAMUK miscue and the first of two home runs from Larry Leitha. The Hogs responded in the bottom half of the stanza with a run on a Chap blunder followed by an RBI single from redshirt junior Will Arnold (Magnolia, Texas).

Two more home runs from the visitors were on tap in the top of the second as Mason Donohoe and Colin Gordon went back-to-back to double up the hosts. The Blue and Gold knotted the score at four apiece in the third after sophomore Steven Bonuz (Port Lavaca, Texas) pushed freshman Garrett Thompson (New Braunfels, Texas) home on a groundout before Arnold and redshirt senior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) executed the double steal to grab the second run later in the at-bat.

Thompson put the Hogs up in the fourth on a liner dropped into right-center, while a sacrifice fly from senior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas) in the fifth tacked on another run for a 6-4 cushion going into the sixth.

Eduardo Acosta tabbed the Chaps' fourth home run in the seventh to put the score at 6-5, finally chasing junior Kolby Lunsford (Helotes, Texas) in the process. Lunsford finished with five strikeouts across six innings pitched, though four of the five hits he gave up left the confines of the park.

TAMUK got the run back in the seventh on another sacrifice fly from De Leon, while a solo shot from senior Aldo Buendia (Laredo, Texas) caromed off the foul pole down the left-field line for an 8-5 advantage going into the ninth.

Junior Tyler Flores (San Antonio, Texas), who took over for Lunsford in the seventh and sat down six of the first seven batters he faced, remained in the game in the top of the ninth with the three-run cushion. A walk preceded a pair of strikeouts to bring up the LCU backstop in Luis Navarro.

Navarro ended up on bases on a four-pitch walk for Leitha, who turned on the first offering from Flores and skied it out to left field to tie the game at 8-8. The Chaps loaded the bases with one out in the extra frame and ended up pouring in five runs en route to the 13-8 final.

Thompson, Arnold and freshman Damian Rodriguez (McAllen, Texas) each finished with two hits for the Hogs, while De Leon was the lone individual with multiple RBI at two.

GAME TWO

The Javelinas struck first on the backend of the doubleheader in the second after Buendia dropped a single to left for Arnold to scamper home. LCU took the run back in the third on a wild pitch and tallied two more in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Edgar Hernandez and a solo shot from Gordon.

The deficit grew to five runs for TAMUK in the fifth when Donohoe poked a single into right, followed by a near-identical single into right from Hernandez during the next at-bat for two runs. The Blue and Gold brought two back in the bottom half of the inning after Bonuz plated Ullman on a grounder to second, while Rodriguez pasted a double off the right-field wall to bring in Spinn for a 6-3 line showing on the scoreboard.

That ended up being as close as the Javelinas would get the rest of the way as the visitors put up two runs in the seventh on a pair of sacrifice flies from Leitha and Hernandez. An RBI groundout from Arnold in the seventh went in as the hosts' fourth run, while Leitha's third long ball of the day came in the ninth for a 9-4 Chap advantage.

The final run of the game came courtesy of a single to right from De Leon capped off three hits to start the stanza, but a pop fly gloved in third-base foul territory, along with a pair of strikeouts from Koi Carrillo, ended the Hogs' hopes of mounting a comeback.

Rodriguez finished with four hits on the day, one of which was a double, while De Leon added three and Spinn tallied two to lead the offensive effort.

Following the losses, the Javelinas now await their NCAA postseason fate after they were listed as under consideration in the most recent release from the association earlier this week.

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