SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi Baseball team was unable to get the big hit on Saturday afternoon, falling 5-3 against Texas State in the middle game of the weekend series. The rubber match of the series is set for a 12 p.m. first pitch on Sunday at Bobcat Ballpark.
The Islanders (10-8) were able to get runners on, tallying 10 hits for the second straight game, but they were unable to bring them home, leaving nine runners on base in the 5-3 loss. Trevor Belicek (2-1) was tagged with the loss, pitching 4.0 innings and giving up five runs, four of them earned, while walking two and striking out one Texas State (6-13) batter.
After a scoreless first inning, the Islanders strung together three hits in the top of the second, but they could only plate one run as Texas State worked out of the jam. Eric Weiss started it off with a single through the right side, and was brought home on an RBI double to right center by Dominic Lopez for a 1-0 Islanders lead.
The Bobcats came back with three hits of their own in the bottom half of the inning, with Austin O'Neal providing the runs on a two-RBI double to take a 2-1 lead.
Texas State added one run in the bottom of the third and two in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 5-1 advantage over the Islanders.
Texas A&M – Corpus Christi cut into the lead in the top of the 7th, scoring one run on three hits to make it 5-2. Cody Stephens singled to right field, moved to second on a groundout by Russell Vaughan and came around to score on an RBI single from Jordan Lee, his first hit of the game.
The Islanders got another run in the top of the eighth inning with the help of two Bobcat errors. Weiss started it off with a single up the middle and moved to second while pinch hitter Kyle Danford reached on a fielding error by the shortstop. Brandon Tierney followed with another pinch-hit opportunity, also reaching on a misplay by the shortstop. Stephens came up with a big RBI single just over the glove of the second baseman to score one run and make it 5-3. The team would not get anymore in the inning however, as an inning-ending double play sent it to the bottom of the eighth at a two-run deficit.
The team could not muster another rally in the ninth, going down in order as the Bobcats evened the weekend series against the Islanders.
Stephens and Weiss picked up two hits apiece, while Lee, Zach Taylor, Brad Porras, Jonathan Gonzales, Lopez and Vaughan had one each. Lopez, Lee and Stephens each had one RBI in the game.
In the Sunday finale, Adam Hoelscher will get the call on the mound for the Islanders, with Kyle Finnegan starting for Texas State.
Live stats for the Sunday finale will be available through www.GoIslanders.com, while audio and video streaming can be found by visiting www.TXStateBobcats.com.
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