KINGSVILLE, Texas- The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team earned a victory in the series finale against the Texas A&M International Dustdevils on Sunday, as redshirt senior
Brandon Symmank (Cypress, Texas) earned a 3-2 victory for his fifth win of the year, while sophomore
Colton Taylor (Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada) earned his seventh save of the season.
JASON GONZALES POSTGAME | COLTON TAYLOR POSTGAME
"From a hitting standpoint I thought we could have done a lot more early on," said coach
Jason Gonzales. "They stayed right in the middle of the fight which is what we always preach and
Brandon Symmank was phenomenal and he did exactly what we ask him to do and gave our hitters a chance and we thought if we could hold on long enough and string together a couple good Abs, and we did there at then we could hold them off. It wasn't easy at all today or all weekend, we had to come from behind a lot and I liked the character that we showed by being able to come from behind".
The Javelinas (23-11, 21-11 LSC) swept the Dustdevils (10-24, 10-22 LSC) in a pitching duel that saw Symmank toss seven innings and seven strikeouts while allowing just three hits and a run. Taylor came in and threw two hitless innings, punching out one for his seventh save, a figure that tops the conference and is tied for seventh nationally.
TAMIU struck first, pushing a run across the plate in the second, before Symmank knuckled down and kept the Dustdeviils off of home plate over the next five innings.
In the sixth, the Javelinas finally got the better of Dustdevil hurler Jan Cabrerra, beginning with a single by senior
Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas). He worked his way to second, before scoring on a two-out RBI double by sophomore
Ivan Duarte (Juarez, Mexico).
Symmank tossed a clean seventh before sophomore
Matthew Castro (Corpus Christi, Texas) slapped a leadoff single in the bottom of the frame. Senior
Kyler Bumstead (Kountze, Texas) advanced him into scoring position with a sacrificed bunt, prior to a single by sophomore
Shelby Becker (Giddings, Texas) that put runners on the corners. Becker quickly swiped second, resulting in two ducks on the pond for Servin. The Edinburg, Texas native sliced single down the right-field line scoring the pair and putting the Javelinas out in front 3-1.
The Dustdevils grabbed an unearned run in the eighth, but it proved too little too late as Taylor slammed the door shut for a 3-2 win and a series sweep.
The Javelinas will take a week of rest before heading to Austin, Texas, for a four-game series against the St. Edwards Hilltoppers that begins Thursday, April, 9.
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