KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – Behind senior pitcher Dan Rogers (Redwood City, CA/Woodside HS), the Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball team knocked off #10 Abilene Christian, 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at Nolan Ryan Field.
In the first three games of the series, the Wildcats (10-2, 6-2) took advantage of every Javelina (7-5, 3-5) miscue. On Sunday, the Wildcats were unable to take advantage of six errors committed by the Javelinas.
The Wildcats committed only one error in the game, but it led to four unearned runs. With the score 1-0 in favor of ACU in the bottom of the seventh inning, Jerry Rodriguez (Canovanas, P.R./North Lake College) reached base via a two-out error. After a walk and a double steal by Rodriguez and Trent Wagner (Victoria/Memorial HS), freshman Cash Barker (Spring/Klein HS) came through with a two-strike single to right field scoring both runs. An infield hit and a walk quickly loaded the bases again and this time Travis Earles (Houston/Cy-Falls HS) drove in two runs with a single.
Rogers kept the Javelinas in the game with a great pitching performance. He went 7.0 innings allowing five hits, one run and three walks while striking out six batters. He left the game in the top of the eighth inning after the first batter reached base by an error and then the second reached by a single.
Taylor Taska (Kingwood/Kingwood HS) came on in relief. He struck out the first batter and then the next batter reached base by another error to load the bases. Taska then induced Cody Bankston to ground into a double play to end the inning.
In the ninth inning, Will Uechi led off with a single for the Wildcats, but was quickly erased with another Javelina double play. Taska held on for the save, his third of the season. He allowed one hit and struck out one in 2.0 innings of work.
The Javelinas finished the game with seven hits. Clifton Thomas (San Diego, CA/El Cajon Valley HS) went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Barker finished the game 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI’s.
Uechi led the Wildcat offense with three hits and a walk. Will Calhoun was tagged with the loss after pitching 6.2 innings allowing four hits, two unearned runs and two walks while striking out four batters.
The Javelinas are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Texas A&M-International for a 2 o’clock game.
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