KINGSVILLE, Texas - Oklahoma Christian led two batters into Thursday night's series-opening contest and held that lead, save a brief tie in the bottom of the sixth inning, until the bottom of the eighth when Texas A&M-Kingsville forced extra innings before taking it in the bottom of the tenth, 6-5.

The Eagles got solid pitching performances from starter Jason Rickert and reliever Evan Ballast as the two pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts to just three walks while giving up five runs on eight hits.

Oklahoma Christian saw all nine hits in the first seven innings of play as the maroon-and-gray were held to just one base runner the final three innings. Leading the way at the plate was Ruben Castro (2-for-5) and Justin Spencer (2-for-2), with Castro recording his two hits in his first two at-bats of the game.

Castro, who came into this weekend's series as the home run leader in the Lone Star Conference, added to that lead just two batters into play, following Trey Migl's lead-off hit with a two-run shot over the left field wall for the early 2-0 lead.

A sacrifice fly from Cole Rager in the third handed OC a 3-0 lead as the advantage remained on the side of the Eagles until the bottom of the eighth. After briefly tying the game at 3-3 in the sixth, a two-run top of the seventh was answered an inning later with two runs from Kingsville on a two-out, two-RBI single that tied the game, 5-5.

With that, the Eagles saw one more base runner the rest of the way. The Javelinas kept up the momentum after forcing extra innings with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th to score the runner from second for the 6-5 game-one victory.

Oklahoma Christian (6-13, 6-13 LSC) will return to Nolan Ryan Field Friday, Mar. 6 for a 7-inning doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.