CORPUS CHRISTI - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team dropped a pair of Southland
Conference games to Southeastern Louisiana Friday night at Chapman Field. The Islanders fell game one of the doubleheader, 6-4, before losing in the nightcap, 7-4.
A&M-Corpus Christi starters went five scoreless innings in each, but the Lions bats broke out for two five-run innings in both games.
Game One: Southeastern Louisiana 6, Islanders 4
The Islanders scored the first three runs of the game, putting pressure on the Lions (18-6, 6-2 SLC), who sat at second place in league play coming into the contest.
Junior Casey Thomas singled up the middle and later advanced two second base on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Kyle Danford picked up his league leading 22nd RBI as he brought Thomas across the plate to take the early lead.
In the third, the Islanders (10-9, 2-3 SLC) saw three consecutive base hits off of the Lions' Tate Scioneaux. Jordan Lee started things off with a single up the middle before Thomas slashed a ball through the right side. Senior Tyler Ware capped things off with an RBI up the middle that scored Lee.
Ware scored in the fifth as Frankie Salas picked up his only base hit of the game to give the Islanders a 3-0 lead.
As senior pitcher Matt Danton went through the Lions batting order for the third time, Southeastern's bats came alive and struck for five runs in the sixth inning.
Ware hammered his second homer of the year in the seventh to pull the Islanders within one run, but the Lions would tack on an insurance run in the ninth to secure the victory.
Danton, a Conroe, Texas native took the loss for the Islanders. The 6-foot-3 right-hander allowed six hits and five runs on the night, with only two runs earned.
Thomas finished with a team-high three hits on the day, scoring a run in the process. Ware reached base via a abase hit twice, and drove in two runs.
Redshirt sophomore Nolan Holland went three scoreless innings in relief, only allowing two hits and striking out three.
Game Two: Southeastern Louisiana 7, Islanders 4
Similar to the opening game of the series, the Islanders starting pitching put together another stellar through five innings.
The offense was red hot to start and in the second, the home team pushed across four runs.
After getting the start for the nightcap, outfielder Zacarias Hardy started the second with a single to right field, followed by Dawson Yates singling through the right side.
Brett Burner would load the bases in the next at bat with an infield single that the Lions' Jacob Williams could not handle.
Thomas, for the second time on the day came through with a clutch two-run single.
In the very next at bat, Lee, a senior from Houston, Texas came through with two outs on the board. The left fielder picked up his first of two hits as he doubled to left center to score both Thomas and Burner, giving the Islanders the 4-0 advantage.
Senior lefty Trevor Belicek struck out nine batters in five and two thirds innings, but a five run sixth inning was too much as the Islanders surrendered its lead for the second-straight game.
Another big inning for Southeastern proved to be too much to handle, as SLU batted around in the sixth, scoring five runs in the process.
In all, A&M-Corpus Christi committed seven errors on the day, which were turned into five unearned runs for the Lions.
The teams will look to take the field Saturday at 3 p.m. to wrap up the three-game set, although heavy rain is expected throughout the Coastal Bend through the night and into Saturday.
For updates throughout the season be sure to follow the team on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersBSB) and Facebook (Islanders Baseball). Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the Islanders Front Row App at GoIslanders.com/frontrow.
