The Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team scored in six of its eight
turns at the plate and tied its season-high for hits with 20 to
surge past New York Tech 17-2 on Friday in the first game of a
three-game series at Islander Field.
The win snapped a
five-game losing streak for the Islanders who move to 10-5, while
the Bears were making their season debut. Last season, New York
Tech swept the Islanders in a three-game series on
Long Island.
"Today's game was
a great to bounce back after a tough loss on Tuesday," said interim
head coach Gene Salazar, whose team played four ranked opponents
during its losing streak. "We didn't play bad during the losing
streak, we just had points where we didn't put everything together
in all areas."
A&M-Corpus
Christi has now scored double-digit runs in seven of 15 games and
has 10 or more base hits in 12 contests.
Tied at one
heading into the bottom of the third, the Islanders broke open the
game with five runs in the third. Josh Plumaj and Jon Kourie hit
two-run home runs off Tech starter Joe Esposito.
A&M-Corpus
Christi scored three runs in the fourth and fifth innings to extend
its lead to 12-1. After the teams exchanged runs in the sixth, the
Islanders tacked on four more in the seventh
Six Islanders
finished the game with two or more hits led by Bryan Gerondale,
Josh Plumaj and Martin Parra with three. Plumaj drove in four runs
in the game while Parra and Kourie each knocked in three. Jason
Graham scored four runs and Plumaj three.
On the mound, Will
Norman improved to 3-1 on the year. He scattered five hits and
struck out five batters. Norman allowed two runs – one earned
on a home run by Kraig Binick in the sixth. Bryant Sparkman and
Nathaniel Harris each permitted a hit in one inning of work.
Esposito allowed
six runs on eight hits in three innings of work to take the loss.
Three Bear relievers allowed 11 runs – three earned – in
five innings of relief.
"The tough
schedule was meant to make us better as a team and prepare us for
conference play and I think it helped Will because he pitched much
better today," said Salazar. "We played better defense which helped
the pitchers out and we continued to hit.
"We need to keep
putting things all together like we did today. We will be a tough
team to beat if we do that."
The series
continues on Saturday with a 2 p.m. game. On Sunday, the teams will
meet at 1 p.m. with a ceremony dedicating Islander Field to John O.
Chapman at 12:55 p.m.
