The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team gave up five runs
in the top of the fifth and never recovered falling 9-1 to Sam
Houston State on Thursday at Chapman Field.
With the loss, the Islanders moved to 19-33-1 on the season and
9-21-1 in the Southland Conference. The Bearkats snapped an 11-game
slide with the win and moved to 18-35 on the year and 10-21 in the
league.
"We were outplayed today," said Islander head coach Scott
Malone. "We went up against a really good arm that will probably be
drafted over the summer. That being said we have got to do a better
job at the plate. We didn't come up with the timely hit when we
needed it. We had two Es and they didn't."
Leading 2-0 after scoring single runs in the second and fourth
frames, the Bearkats broke open the game with five runs in the top
of the fifth on six hits. Three of the hits didn't get out of the
infield.
The inning began with Payton Wisener leading off the inning with
his second of three bunt singles and then stealing second. He
scored on an RBI single by Braeden Riley down the line in right.
Riley scored an unearned run on an infield single by Chris Andreas,
who extended his hitting streak to 24 games, ending Adam Hoelscher's
start. Andreas plated later on an RBI double by Mark Hudson. After
Taylor Davis scored on a single to short by Tyler Fiebrich, Hudson
crossed the plate on a passed ball by Roman
Madrid.
After SHSU pushed the lead to 8-0 nothing in the top of the
sixth inning, the Islanders tallied a run in the sixth off Dallas
Gallant. With two away, Trey Hernandez tripled to
center for the team's single-season record 22nd of the season. He
scored on a single by Jeramie Marek.
Wiesner led off the eighth with a bunt single and scored the
final run in the top of the eighth. He scored on a two-out hit by
Davis to right-center field.
A&M-Corpus Christi threatened in the eighth. After a
lead-off single by Bobby
Buckner, Hernandez reached on a fielder's choice. The Islanders
loaded the bases with back-to-back singles with two outs. Gallant
ended the threat by striking out Jacob Perales for the tenth
strikeout of the game for Gallant.
Hoelscher suffered the loss for the Islanders dropping to 2-3 on
the year. He allowed five runs with three earned on six hits. He
walked three and struck out two.
Four other A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders followed. Brett
Gibson allowed a two runs with one earned on three hits, while
Alex
Silva permitted a run on three hits in two innings of work.
After Roy Ferdin was tagged for a
run on four hits, Marc
Damon fanned the side in the top of the ninth to end the
game.
Gallant moved to 3-8 on the year as he scattered eight hits. He
fanned 10 hitters and walked just two. After allowing a lead-off
double to in the first to Caleb
Marx, Gallant allowed just one other hitter into scoring
position until the eighth.
Hernandez led the Islanders with three hits while Marek added
two. SHSU finished with 16 hits as Davis and Fiebrich joined
Wisener with three hits apiece.
The teams continue their series on Friday at 2 p.m. The finale
is Saturday at 1 p.m.
