Texas A&M-Corpus Christi trailed for the first three and a
half innings before the bats came alive against Texas-Brownsville
on Tuesday at Chapman Field. In the bottom of the fourth inning
after the first two hitters reached Omar Garcia laced a single that
put the Islanders on top to stay.
Starter Jake Liedka allowed three first inning runs after
allowing the first two runners to reach. Matt Ginn put the
Scorpions on top early on a two-run double. In the bottom half of
the first, Cory Ege connected for a home run for a second
consecutive Tuesday. Chris Vergne with one out in the first cut the
deficit to 3-2 with a homer to right field.
Liedka, settled down during his next four innings keeping the
UTB bats salient striking out five in five innings of work. TAMUCC
broke open the game in the bottom of the sixth innings when they
put six on the score board to extend the advantage to 9-3.
The first three hitters in the sixth reached base, Ege added to
the lead with a single through the left side of the infield. Garcia
cleaned off the bases with a three-run triple putting the Islanders
up 7-3. A&M-Corpus Christi added two more in the frame to go up
9-3.
Highlighting the scoring in the bottom of the seventh was a long
three-run home run by Vergne that extended the lead to 12-3, which
gave the starting left fielder game high five RBIs.
In the bottom of the eighth two more runs crossed the plate for
the Islanders to close the scoring for the team. The top of the
line-up went a 7-for-14 with three home runs and driving in 12
runs.
Brandon Orr, Trenton Irwin and Weston Mongomery in relief
combined to hold Brownsville to two runs over four innings of
work.
"I was glad to see Liedka bounce back after the first inning and
then have our bullpen help us until we got going offensively," said
head coach Scott Malone "Once our offense got going it came hits
came from almost everyone, the top portion of the line-up continued
to stay hot and we'll need them to continue to this weekend for
us."
Eight batters recorded at least one hit for TAMUCC in the 14-5
victory.
Next up for the Islanders will be the Whataburger College
Classic against UCLA of the Pacific 10 conference. First pitch is
schedule for 6 p.m. at Whataburger Field on Friday night.
