CANYON, Texas – A combined 41 runs on 43 hits punctuated Wilder Park on Friday afternoon for the LSC semifinal matchup, but at the end of the day it was the final at bat that left the No. 27 Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program on the backend of a 21-20 decision at the hands of second-seeded Tarleton State to bring the tournament run to a close for the Blue and Gold.

The Javelinas (37-14) traded punches with the Texans (34-15), akin to the previous day's matchup against sixth-seeded UT-Permian Basin, but couldn't find the knockout punch as TSU walked off with the win in the bottom of the ninth.

The Hogs wasted little time getting on the board in similar fashion to Thursday's game against UTPB as the first five batters reaching safely. Redshirt-sophomore Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) started the rally after reaching on a hard-hit ground ball to short that was misplayed by Elvin Alamo to open up the game.

Junior Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) followed up with a bounding-ball single back up the middle that pushed Ullman to third, and the pair came home after senior Levi Zents (Fort Worth, Texas) drilled a ball from 2018 LSC Pitcher of the Year Nathan Hickey into center that took a hard hop off the turf and sailed over the head of the center fielder, putting Zents on second with a two-run double when the dust settled.

Senior Dallas Stefano (Cypress, Texas) brought the next two runs home for TAMUK after he skied his first opposite-field home run to left for a 4-0 Javelina lead going into the bottom of the frame.

The Texans got one of the runs back during their at bat after Blake Adams led off with a double to right center, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an errant throw from the plate before the second batter had completed his time at bat.

Senior Jarred Taylor (Vidor, Texas) found his rhythm after allowing the next two batters on by getting a fly ball to left for the first out before painting the corner against Jared McCarver for the second out.

A ground ball to short would end the frame as Taylor kept the damage to a minimum.

TSU trimmed the lead to one in the second after the Javelinas failed to add more to their total in the top half of the inning as Adams drilled a pitch over the left field wall with a runner standing at third to put the line score at 4-3 favoring TAMUK heading into the third.

The Hogs were kept off the board once again in the top of the following inning while the Texans fully erased the four-run deficit in the bottom half of the stanza after Francisco Rodriguez pushed a two-run shot to right center for a 5-4 lead now favoring Tarleton State.

TSU got runners at first and second with two outs, prompting a pitching change as the Blue and Gold went to senior Kyle Craft (Victoria, Texas) with the keys, but Craft couldn't slow the attack as the Texans pushed two more home on back-to-back singles from Adams and Alamo to put the Javelinas in a 7-4 deficit going into the fourth.

The deficit was short-lived as Loredo capped junior Alex Gonzalez (Corpus Christi, Texas) in the top of the fourth with a ground ball to second, while Stefano went to the opposite field yet again for a three-run shot to give the Hogs an 8-7 lead behind his second round-tripper of the day.

Like clockwork, the Texans came right back in the bottom half of the stanza after McCarver pushed a single back up the middle to tie the game before Jake Hasbrouck drove a two-run homer to left to regain the lead.

Hunter Hudson skied a sacrifice fly to center to end the rally as the Hogs faced another three-run deficit at 11-8 heading into the fifth.

Just like Thursday's game against the Falcons, the Hogs responded after storming TSU for six runs in the top of the fifth.

Tarleton State opted for its other All-LSC first team pitcher in Evan Pontley but the Javelinas were not swayed by the change as Gonzalez started the rally with a sacrifice fly to center to score sophomore Brad Jones (Crandall, Texas) with the bases loaded.

Ullman drove a pitch into center for another run while Loredo followed up with a bounding ball through the left side to even the line score at 11 apiece.

Stefano bounced a pitch off the center field wall that was less than 10 feet away from leaving the park to plate another pair of runs for the Hogs before he came home on a double down the left field line from Caudle.

The 14-11 cushion was cut to one in the following inning after McCarver drove a pitch over the left field wall from redshirt-senior Trey Taylor (Leander, Texas), who came in to relieve Craft, but the Leander, Texas, native settled in to retire the next three batters on a groundout, strikeout and flyout to maintain the lead at 14-13 heading into the sixth.

The Hogs were held off the board in the top half of the inning before TSU regained the lead yet again in the home half after a two-run shot from Adams, followed by a double from Ruben Rodriguez and a fielder's choice ground ball from Francisco Rodriguez to put the score at 17-14 favoring Tarleton State going into the seventh.

Stefano drilled his third round-tripper of the day, this time to right, to pull the Javelinas back within one at 17-16, but the Texans could not be denied on the scoreboard when Adams placed a sacrifice fly into center field in the home half of the frame for an 18-16 TSU lead.

The eighth inning appeared to finally cement momentum in TAMUK's favor as Loredo pasted a pitch over the right field fence with a pair of Hogs on the bases for the second three-run blast of the day from the Javelinas for a 20-18 advantage.

It was the third time TAMUK reached the 20-run plateau in 2018, first besting Eastern New Mexico on April 16, 20-3, before thrashing West Texas A&M on April 28, 23-1.

Unfortunately, 20 runs in Friday's contest wouldn't be enough to take the win despite senior Isaiah Lybarger (Corpus Christi, Texas) striking out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the eighth and seemingly having Francisco Rodriguez dead-to-rights with two strikes during the third at bat of the stanza.

Twice Lybarger appeared to have a pitch on the outside corner that had the majority of Javelinas walking off the field thinking a strikeout was in order and twice he was denied by the home plate umpire as the Texan instead drew a full-count walk with two outs.

A single from Hasbrouck and a two-run double from Tyler Fowler ended up knotting the score at 20-20 going into the ninth and the Hogs were held scoreless by Eddie Avila to set the stage for Ruben Rodriguez's walk off single in the home half of the final at bat for a 21-20 decision favoring Tarleton State.

TAMUK's 18 hits are courtesy of multi-hit games from Loredo and Stefano, who each had four, Ullman, who had three, and Zents and Caudle, both with two. Stefano finished with a season-high nine RBI in addition to four runs scored.

Despite ending up on the losing side, the Javelinas will likely play in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament after entering the weekend as the third-ranked program in the region behind the likes of West Texas A&M and Colorado Mesa.

The selection show for the NCAA Division-II Baseball Tournament is scheduled for Sunday, May 13, at 9 p.m. CT on the NCAA.com website.

#####