Texas A&M Kingsville

Clifton Thomas had five hits on Saturday, including a pair of homers

KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team was one out away from a four game sweep of visiting Lone Star Conference rival Tarleton State, but split a pair of games on Saturday losing 9-8 in extra innings and then winning 13-6 at Nolan Ryan Field. (Game 1, Game 2)

In the first game, the Javelinas (17-23, 13-19) got off to a great start, but finished poorly. Junior center fielder Clifton Thomas (San Diego, CA/El Cajon Valley HS) led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run to right field. The team added another run in the inning and then in the bottom of the second, Thomas hit a two-run homer to make it a 4-0 ball game.

Ryan Torres (Porter/Porter HS) held the Texans (18-21-1, 14-16-1) scoreless through the first five innings allowing just three hits and one walk. In the sixth inning, Torres started to tire and the Texans got him for four hits and three runs.

The Javs tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Brandon Rohr (Anaheim, CA/Orange Lutheran HS) drove in two runs with a single. He later scored when he stole second and the throw sailed into the outfield allowing him to come all the way around.

In the top of the seventh, the Texans were faced with two outs and a man on first base. From that point on they put together a string of five consecutive hits and tied the game on Aaron Dalton’s double, sending the game to extra innings.

Neither team was able to score in the eighth inning, although the Javelinas had a runner at third with two outs. In the ninth, the Texans scored two runs on RBI singles by Dalton and Charlie Ulbricht.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Javelinas loaded the bases with no outs. Thomas Miller (Las Vegas, NV/Sierra Vista HS) walked to make it a 9-8 game. The Texans then brought in Brent Lewis. Lewis struck out the next two batters and got the third batter to ground out to shortstop to preserve the win.

Scott Crook picked up the win pitching 4.2 innings in relief allowing four runs and striking out seven. The Texans had 16 hits in the game as six players had at least two hits. Chris Casazza and Dalton each had three hits while Dalton also drove in three runs.

Wes Callihan was tagged with the loss for the Javelinas after pitching 2.0 innings in relief. The Hoggies pounded out 13 hits with Thomas leading the way with three hits, two home runs, three runs and three RBI’s. Rohr, Chase Garcia (Victoria/Memorial HS) and Travis Earles (Houston/Cy-Falls HS) each had a pair of base hits.

In the second game, the Texans took advantage of two Javelinas errors in the first inning to take a short-lived 2-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning Miller drove in two runs with a single and Philip Johnson (Malibu, CA/Malibu HS) drove in another run to give the Hoggies a 3-2 lead.

The Javs put another three spot on the board in the third inning. Luis Diaz (Santa Ana, CA/Century HS) had the big hit of the inning, a run-scoring double down the right field line.

The Texans added two runs in the fourth to close to within 6-4, but that was as close as they would get. Robert Cox (Corpus Christi/Calallen HS) crushed a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and then the Javs added three more runs in the fifth inning. Adrian Williams (Victoria/Memorial HS) capped off the victory with a towering three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Tim Jones (Lake Jackson/Brazosport HS) picked up his second win of the weekend by working 5.0 innings. He allowed 11 hits and five runs, but just two were earned. He did not walk a batter and struck out six. Dan Rogers (Redwood City, CA/Woodside HS) closed out the game pitching the final 4.0 innings to earn his first career save. He allowed just one hit, one unearned run and one walk while striking out four.

The Javs pounded out 13 hits in the game with Miller leading the way with three hits, including a double, two runs scored and two RBI’s. Johnson finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI’s while Williams went 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI’s. Thomas also added two more hits in the nightcap.

The Texans had 12 hits in the game as five players had at least two hits. Chad Cloud led the team with three safeties while Keith Peacock had two hits, a double and two runs batted in. P.J. Burns started the game on the mound and was handed the loss after lasting just 3.0 innings while giving up six runs.

The Javs are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Texas A&M International for a 9-inning game at 3 o’clock.
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