CANYON, Texas – The No. 27 Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program was locked in a close affair through five innings against sixth-seeded UT-Permian Basin on Thursday at Wilder Park, but posted 12 runs in the final three innings to take the win in the opening round of the 2018 LSC Baseball Championships.

The Javelinas (37-13) traded punches with the Falcons (9-41) throughout the day but ultimately ended on top in the back-and-forth affair at 18-8 behind 22 hits at the plate.

UTPB struck first in the top of the opening frame after Chris Ortega and Mitchell Hazlett went back-to-back with a pair of solo shots down the left field line for a 2-0 lead. 2018 LSC Freshman of the Year Tyler Flores (San Antonio, Texas) got the start for the Hogs and worked through the initial jitters to sit down the next three batters to keep the Javelinas close behind.

TAMUK responded in the home half of the stanza by getting the first five batters aboard, ignited by a liner into left from All-LSC honorable mention Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) to lead off.

Fellow honorable mention Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) followed up with a mirror single into right before All-LSC first-teamer Levi Zents (Fort Worth, Texas) loaded up the bases with a four-pitch walk.

Senior Dallas Stefano (Cypress, Texas) started the scoring with a liner back up the middle to score Ullman, while LSC All-Defensive team and All-LSC second team selection Christian Caudle (Klein, Texas) cleared the bases with a deep drive into the left center gap for a 4-2 Javelina lead.

The hit prompted a pitching change from the Falcons but the Hogs would sneak one more run home as Caudle moved up to third on a wild pitch and scored after a strikeout in the dirt required a throw down to first with one out for a 5-2 Blue and Gold lead.

Flores stayed in a groove for the next inning but gave up another round-tripper to UTPB in the third after Hazlett led off with a single back up the middle and was followed up with a first-pitch shot to left center from Mike Fernandez to trim the line score to 5-4 favoring the Hogs.

Head coach Jason Gonzales opted for a reliever to close out the inning following a double down the left field line from Dalton Drury, giving the keys to junior Preston Plovanich (Santa Fe, Texas), who worked out of the inning with a groundout and strikeout.

The Hogs got one of the runs back in the bottom of the third after sophomore Brad Jones (Crandall, Texas) looped a single into shallow left that gave Stefano a chance to race all the way from second and cross the plate uncontested for a 6-4 lead favoring TAMUK.

The Falcons tacked on another run in the top of the fifth after Fernandez led off with a single into center and got to third on a double from Skyler Palermo.

A groundball to first from Drury was enough to push the run home for UTPB but Plovanich would get help from redshirt-junior Alex Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) who took the next ground ball down to home to catch Palermo in no-man's land for the second out before a strikeout from the following batter would end the frame.

The Falcons kept the pressure up in the sixth, getting a trio of runs home to regain the lead following a misplay from the Hogs on a single into center and additional singles from Drury and Fernandez, forcing the Hogs to go to the bullpen once again.

Redshirt-senior Lee May Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) got the bill with bases loaded and two outs to face Cooper Coe and needed four pitches for the strikeout to finally stop the bleeding while the Hogs faced an 8-6 deficit heading into the bottom of the sixth.

TAMUK found the proper combination in the bottom of the stanza, pushing seven runs across to storm ahead for a 13-8 lead. With an almost identical start to how the first inning went, A. Gonzalez and Ullman both started the frame with a single apiece while Loredo loaded the bases on a five-pitch walk.

Zents started the scoring with an infield single to the shortstop, Stefano followed up with an infield single of his own and Caudle reached on a ground-rule double to put the Blue and Gold ahead at 10-8.

A couple of pitching changes from the Falcons wasn't enough to stem the tide as junior Pablo Hernandez (Havana, Cuba) brought a run home on a ground ball to second while junior Dylan Hutcheson (Wichita Falls, Texas) plated another with a bounding ball up the middle.

A. Gonzalez set the line score at 13-8 as he sent a high-chopper to third to give freshman Giancarlo Servin (Edinburg, Texas) enough time to cross home to give the Hogs a five-run cushion.

Caudle capped his sixth RBI of the day with a single into left in the bottom of the seventh as Zents raced home after he reached on a single into right for his second hit of the day, setting the line score at 14-8 heading into the eighth.

The Hogs tacked on four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as Ullman scored a pair on a single to center, while Loredo doubled to right for two more as senior Seth Hubert (Riviera, Texas) strolled through the final two innings of the game to propel the Javelinas to the semifinal tomorrow against second-seeded Tarleton State.

In total, the Javelinas combined for 22 hits with Caudle and Ullman both going for 4-for-6 from the plate as Caudle added six RBI to Ullman's two. Six Hogs finished with multi-hit days with Loredo and Stefano adding three each, while Zents and A. Gonzalez both posted a pair.

The game against the Texans is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on Friday, May 11 at Wilder Park. For full 2018 LSC Championship coverage, click here.

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