March 18, 2008

Texas A&M-Kingsville swept Texas A&M International University in a windswept non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at Gateway Field. The Javelinas jumped out to big leads in both games, winning the opener 6-1 before prevailing 9-4 in game two.

TAMUK took control of the opening game with five unearned runs in the top of the first inning. The Javelinas would stretch that lead to 6-0 when Meisha Patterson scored from second base on a sacrifice bunt by Cassie Anderson in the second inning.

TAMIU would not get on the board until the bottom of the sixth, when Samantha García scored on a RBI single by Ryanne Chapman.

Victoria Beltrán (6-5) took the loss for the Dustdevils despite allowing only one earned run in 7.0 innings of work. Courtney Rigamonti (10-10) picked up the win for the Javelinas with a complete game effort.

Kingsville jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings in the second game. The big hit for the Javelinas in a five-run second inning was a two-out two RBI double by Shaun Bryan.

TAMUK (16-16 overall) would stretch the lead to 9-0 with two runs in the top of the sixth before Beltrán put TAMIU on the board with a three-run home run in the bottom of that frame. It was her fourth home run of the season, ranking her second on the squad in that category.

Beltrán added a RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to finish three for four in the contest with four RBI.

Courtney Smith (1-5) took the loss for TAMIU after allowing six earned runs in 1.2 innings. Jessika Cantú (6-4) picked up the win for Kingsville. She allowed no runs on two hits in a 4.0 inning effort before being relieved by Morgan Seals.

The Dustdevils finished with a combined 15 hits in the doubleheader but the Javelinas had the upper hand with 24 hits. Kingsville also played better defense, committing two errors in comparison to 10 Dustdevil errors.

TAMIU (11-17 overall) will take Easter weekend off before resuming Heartland Conference play with a series at UT-Permian Basin on Mar. 29-30.