KINGSVILLE Texas. - On Friday, the Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team dropped an 8-7 extra inning contest to the UT Tyler Patriots in the opening game in a best-of-three series that opened the 2022 Lone Star Conference Baseball Tournament at Nolan Ryan Field.
The No. 4 seed Javelinas (30-17, 28-16 LSC) fell to the No. 5 seed Patriots (30-19, 29-19 LSC) in a 13-inning affair that opened the postseason in Kingsville, Texas. The result came despite multiple RBIs being logged by sophomore
Nick Wolff (Klein, Texas) and senior
Kyler Bumstead (Kountze, Texas).
Wolff plated two and Bumstead drove in three, while senior
Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas), sophomore
Jake Chapman (Boerne, Texas) and classmate
Shelby Becker (Giddings, Texas) each logged two hits in the series opener.
Sophomore
Kobe Jaramillo (Bishop, Texas) started on the bump for the Javelinas, and tossed the first four innings, striking out one and allowing four hits.
The Patriots however, wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as they plated a runner on a single before another run scored on a Javelina miscue.
The Javelina bats answered back in the bottom of the frame with the first four Blue and Gold hitters all recording hits. Back-to-back singles by sophomore
Garrett Thompson (New Braunfels, Texas) and Becker led off the inning, before Servin plated one on a sharply hit single through the left side. Moments later, Wolff dropped a double into the left-field gap to give the Hogs a 3-2 lead. Wolff crossed the plate himself shortly after, on an RBI groundout by Bumstead.
UTT pushed a run across in the second before adding another in the fifth tying the game at four apiece.
Freshman
Robbie Spencer (Portland, Texas) took over for Jaramillo in the fifth and kept the UT Tyler bats at bay for 3.2 innings featuring three strikeouts and just one Patriot hit.
TAMUK regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a solo shot by Becker and added two more in the eighth after Wolff was hit by a pitch and Chapman slashed a double down the left field line. Bumstead stepped into the box and worked a full count before slapping a base hit that resulted in a 7-4 Blue and Gold lead.
Down to their last out in the top of the ninth, the Patriots sparked a two out rally with a hit batter, two singles and a triple that tied the game 7-7, and forced extra innings.
From there, sophomore
Hunter Kloesell (Shiner, Texas) delivered 1.2 clean innings in which he didn't surrender a single hit keeping the ballgame tied.
In the top of the 13th, UT Tyler broke the deadlock scoring their eighth run of the ballgame on a sacrificed fly ball, that represented the final run of the ballgame.
Game two is slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch on Saturday at Nolan Ryan Field, ahead of a possible game three Sunday, at 1 p.m.
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