SUGAR LAND, Texas – Brett Burner's two-run single in the top of the seventh broke a 1-1 tie to lift the eighth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team to a 4-2 win over No. 1 seed Southeastern Louisiana in the opening round of the 2015 Southland Baseball Tournament. Trevor Belicek pitched 7 2/3 innings to improve to 9-4 on the season.
Belicek threw a stellar ballgame, scattering five hits and two walks in 7 2/3 innings. The Lions plated two earned runs off the senior, who struck out three in the contest. He outdueled fellow all-Southland hurler Tate Scioneaux, who did not allow an earned run in his seven innings of work, surrendering four hits and striking out six without giving up a walk. Kyle Keller pitched the final two innings for Southeastern, surrendering a run on two hits.
Jacob Dorris came in to pitch the final 1 1/3 innings of the game, finishing off the contest with a strikeout for his ninth save of the season.
With the win, the Islanders will now face the winner of tonight's McNeese State/Sam Houston State game at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Constellation Field. Matt Danton will take the mound for the Islanders in that contest. Live stats, video and tickets are all available via the Southland.org Tournament Central page.
Early in the game, the Lions struck first in the top of the second to take a 1-0 lead. Julian Service got things started by rolling a single through the right side with one out for the first hit of the contest. After a flyout from Chris Eades, Ryan Byers went the other way and lined a double into the right-center field gap, plating Service to open the scoring.
Meanwhile, Scioneaux was rolling, setting down the first 12 Islanders to go perfect through the first four. A&M-Corpus Christi mounted its first threat in the fifth, as Zacarias Hardy led off the inning with a single to right center, and after a Kyle Danford lineout, Frankie Salas singled to put two on and one away. But Brandon Guilford went down on strikes and Burner flew out to right to end the threat and keep the score 1-0 Southeastern.
Belicek stayed right with him, though, and kept putting zeroes on the board on the other side. The lefty did not allow a hit in the fourth, fifth and sixth, retiring the side in order in the latter two, setting down eight in a row at one point.
Then the Islanders snapped Scioneaux' scoreless streak at a school-record 36.1 innings in the top of the seventh. Hardy got things rolling by stinging a ball to shortstop that was mishandled for a one-out error, and Danford singled through the right side to put two on and one out. After a flyout by Salas, pinch-hitter Dom Lopez grounded the ball to second, and the throw went wild to score Hardy and tie the game 1-1. Burner followed, and ripped a single up the middle, scoring both Danford and pinch-runner Travis Geiser to give the Islanders a 3-1 lead in the contest.
The Lions came right back, though, with Eades drawing a one-out walk. After a popout, Jacob Seward looped a single behind third to put two on and two away. Carson Crites came up next, and ripped a ball over Casey Thomas' head into left center for a double, scoring Eades to make it 3-2. But Belicek struck out Daniel Midyett on a 2-2 breaking ball to end the threat.
But the Islanders wasted no time in getting that back, plating another run to push the edge to 4-2. Jordan Lee led off the frame with a single, then moved to second on a passed ball. After a strikeout, Tyler Ware delivered the blow, ripping a single through the middle to plate Lee for a two-run lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Belicek got the first two outs, the second on a brilliant play by Burner, then gave way to Dorris, who finished off the frame. After the Islanders went quietly in the top of the ninth, Dorris surrendered a hit batsman to start the bottom of the frame, and then was on the receiving end of a crucial 3-6-1 double play to put two down and nobody on. He then finished it off with a strikeout of Ryan Byers to send the Islanders dugout pouring onto the field in celebration.
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