SUGAR LAND, Texas – Logan Boyd and Alex Bisacca combined for a four-hitter as Sam Houston State knocked off the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team 6-1 on Thursday night in the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament. Zacarias Hardy delivered an RBI double in a losing effort for the Islanders.
With the loss, the Islanders will now face Southeastern Louisiana on Friday at noon in an elimination game at Constellation Field. Devin Skapura 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.
Boyd collected the win to improve to 6-4 on the year for the Bearkats, surrendering three hits and three walks in six innings of work, striking out five in the process. Bisacca went the final three innings without surrendering a run to earn his fourth save. Matt Danton was carded with the loss, falling to 4-7, as he gave up eight hits, two walks and four runs in 7 1/3 innings of work.
The Islanders came out strong against Boyd, putting a runner in scoring position in the first and loading the bases in the second, but were unable to score in either inning. In the top of the third, A&M-Corpus Christi came through, though. Jordan Lee drew a one-out walk to start the rally, and Hardy followed by ripping a double to left center, with Lee motoring all the way around to score as the Islanders took a 1-0 lead.
But Sam Houston State came right back in the bottom of the third. Bryce Johnson started things with a leadoff double, and a single through the left side by Colt Atwood put runners at the corners and nobody out. A sac fly from Hayden Simerly brought in the Bearkats' first run to knot the score 1-1. But SHSU added a double from Jake MacWilliam and an RBI groundout from Zach Smith to take a 2-1 lead.
From there, though, both pitchers settled in strong, with Boyd retiring the Islanders in order in the fourth and sixth, and allowing only one base runner, who reached on an error and was picked off of first, in the fifth. Bisacca followed and set down the side in order in the seventh. The Islanders rallied in the eighth with two runners reaching on errors, but Bisacca was able to get a groundout to end the inning.
On the other side, Danton was strong as well, setting down the Bearkats 1-2-3 in the fourth and seventh and getting double plays in the fifth and sixth to face the minimum for a span of those four frames.
But in the eighth, SHSU was able to add to its lead. Johnson led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Simerly followed, and rolled a single just under the glove of Danton into center field for an RBI single and a 3-1 lead. That ended Danton's day, but SHSU was able to add to the lead against Jacob Dorris, plating runs on RBI singles from MacWilliam and Smith to push the lead to 5-1. The Bearkats added a run-scoring double from Miles Manning to move the advantage to 6-1. The Islanders were unable to score in the ninth, falling by that final score.
For all the latest on Islanders Baseball, be sure to follow the team on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersBSB) and like the team's official Facebook page (Islanders Baseball). Fans are also encouraged to download the Islanders Front Row app for live stats, video and all the latest information on all the Islanders teams.
