KINGSVILLE, Texas- The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team is set for a showdown against the No. 5 West Texas A&M Buffaloes, who currently maintains the top spot in the Lone Star Conference standings. The four-game series kicks off Friday, at 6 p.m. inside the confines of Nolan Ryan Field.
The Javelinas (25-13, 23-13 LSC) currently sit fourth, while the Buffaloes (33-9, 31-9 LSC) have been a mainstay at the top of the league. With just two series remaining in the regular season, the top four teams will host the opening round of the conference tournament, making this matchup pivotal in a heated postseason race. The contests will also see the league's top pitching team face off with its best hitting club.
TAMUK is coming off a road-series split against the St. Edwards Hilltoppers, in which sophomore
Nick Wolff (Klein, Texas) was stellar at the plate logging an impressing .643 batting average, while catching all four games. His weekend featured a pair of doubles and a multi-home run game that allowed him to slug 1.214, and earn LSC Hitter of the Week honors for the second time this season.
Wolff isn't the only Javelina carrying momentum to the place, with senior
Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) slashing .600/.625/1.000 while posting a multi-home run game of his own against SEU. Servin has totaled nine on the season, which sits fifth in the LSC.
On the mound, sophomore
Kobe Jaramillo (Bishop, Texas) and classmate
Colton Taylor (Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada) tossed a combined shutout against the Hilltoppers. Jaramillo tossed six solid innings while scattering five hits and striking out just as many batters. Taylor toed the slab in the seventh, securing a 7-0 in game two of a Friday doubleheader.
After a thrilling 10-8 win in the series finale, the Javelinas earned the split, with Taylor getting the win after throwing the final 3.2. The Canadian has racked up three victories out of the bullpen this season and boasts the most saves in the conference with seven.
The Buffs, meanwhile, took three out of four against Texas A&M International, including a run-rule victory in the series opener. WT has claimed their last two series and has managed at least a split in every four-game slate thus far.
They lead the LSC in batting average with a mark of .346, a figure that's seventh nationally, and in hits with 400 on the season. Nobody pushes more runs across the plate than WT, as they average 9.5 per game.
Two Buffalo hitters hold averages over .400 in the form of Adam Becker and Ryan Johnson. Becker hits .424 and is the league leader in the statistic, while Johnson sits third at. 418. Becker also tops the LSC in home runs at 13 and is the national RBI leader with 69 on the year.
The WT pitching staff ranks third in the LSC with an ERA of 5.06, a statistic in which the Javelinas lead with a mark of 4.52. Among the Buffalo, Staff is Nick Marshall, who holds a 9-1 record in 11 starts, while teammate Colton Charnholm ranks second on the team with eight victories despite zero starts. Maddux Hoaglund tops the team in strikeouts with 69, while Marshall is second with 66.
Following game one on Friday, the teams will face against Saturday in a senior day doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m., with the finale scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
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