KINGSVILLE, Texas - A gusty day at Nolan Ryan Field did not slow down the Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team as they comfortably took down the Texas A&M International Dustdevils in a non-conference matchup, 14-5.

The Javelinas (2-3, LSC 1-3) and the Dustdevils (0-5, LSC 0-4) will meet five more times this season, once more in a non-conference matchup and then in a four-game conference series as the last series of the regular season.

Karson Shepard grabs the credit for the win in a game where the Hogs led almost from the start and never looked back. Christopher Sauceda is pegged for the loss for the Dustdevils.

Leaving two runners stranded to start the game, the Javelinas got rolling in the second inning. After Jake Chapman reached base on a walk, Jacob Rozales followed up by belting a triple to right-center to immediately bring Chapman home.Two batters later, a MJ Rodriguez single scored Rozales to bring the score to 2-0.

After a scoreless third inning, the Dustdevils mustered a run in the fourth inning to close the gap to one, but the Javelinas would blow the game wide open in the fifth. Garrett Thompson put pressure on TAMIU immediately, drawing a walk then stealing second on the next batter. Vincent Sanchez advanced Thompson to third and got on-base himself with a bunt that could not be fielded in time before Kyle Perales scored Thompson on a single to left. After advancing the runners once more on a sacrifice bunt, Chapman came up to the plate and blasted the first Javelina homerun on the season to bring home three more. The Hogs added one more run in the inning as Rodriguez picked up his second RBI of the day on a double to bring home Logan Crow.

Two more runs were found by the Javelinas in the seventh inning as Rozales hit the second homerun for the Hogs on the day, the Dustdevils finally got something going on offense in the eighth inning, scoring four runs to bring the score to 9-5. However, it was too little too late as the Hogs immediately responded with five more runs of their own after a host of wild pitches kept the Javelinas running the bases, securing the victory for TAMUK, 14-5.

The Javelinas will be back in action this weekend at Nolan Ryan Field as they take on a series against West Texas A&M in their first home series of the season, starting with game one on Friday, Feb. 9 at 3 p.m.

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