HAMMOND, La. – For the second time in as many days, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi bats were silenced by a dominant performance from a Southeastern Louisiana starter as the Islanders were shutout and swept, 5-0 by the Lions Saturday afternoon.
On the mound for the Islanders (9-13, 2-4), Devin Skapura (1-3) was charged with the loss despite a solid outing. The veteran went 4 2/3 innings allowing four runs, three earned on just three hits. Like Falwell the day before, it was walks which harmed Skapura as the junior issued four free passes.
Defensively, the Islanders continued a run of solid play in the infield as Cullen Jozwiak, Casey Thomas and Brandon Guilford each made a round of nice plays on the day. Jozwiak robbed the Lions of a base knock diving into the hole on a hot shot before scurrying to his feet to make a strong throw across the diamond.
"I thought we pitched it ok and continued to defend the field really well," said head coach Scott Malone. "Our infield play was outstanding and we never really let their offense get cranked up, but it was a really bad weekend for the hitters. It was a combination of their talented pitching executing their play, but when we had pitches to hit, we didn't do it and when we needed to fight with a good two-strike approach, we didn't."
All weekend long, the Southeastern (18-6, 9-0) pitching staff kept the Islanders off balance at the dish, allowing just 13 hits in 27 innings. The Islanders hit at a .144 clip on the weekend, striking out 25 times to just eight walks.
On Saturday, it was Domenick Carlini (3-0) who stumped the Islanders. The Lion senior tossed eight innings of scoreless baseball, scattering five hits while striking out six.
The Islanders managed just five hits and had arguably their best chance in the eighth as Scott Balfantz doubled to open the inning. But, Carlini slammed the door against the top of the Islander order.
"I really wasn't happy with our strikeout-to-walk ratio at the plate," continued Malone. "We were never able to generate any offense. It felt like every inning we needed three doubles just to score a run, all because we couldn't do the little things this weekend."
On the flip side, the Islander pitching staff held the Lions to a .193 clip at the plate for the weekend, but Southeastern was able to come up with the timely hit in each of the three games in the series.
The Lions used a walk and a single in the bottom of the first to put runners at the corners with just one out. A ground ball to second brought the first run of the game home. The lead held there into the fifth, with the Islanders seemingly building some momentum by stringing a couple of hits together.
But, a turn of luck in the fifth changed the game. A 2-out fly ball to right center looked to be in the sights of center fielder Zack Gibson, but as he approached the ball, Gibson stepped in a sand-filled hole and lost his footing.
The play turned into a triple and Southeastern would add three runs in the inning to take a 4-0 lead. A throwing error the next frame led to a fifth run for the final of 5-0.
"It's hard to be down on Gibson," said Malone. "There's some ups and downs out there and at the end of the day it felt like a play we needed to go make, but it was just tough luck."
UP NEXT
Now the Islanders must turn the tide back in their favor after a 0-for-4 week on the road.
"I think momentum is fickle," said Malone. "If you had asked last week, I would have told you we had some. We went 4-1 against UTRGV and Nicholls and it felt like everything was going in the right direction. Now we run into two monsters this week and don't play well, all the sudden we're 0-and-4 and hitters are scratching their heads wondering if we're ever going to score."
The Blue and Green will look for the reversal of fortunes Wednesday at Houston-Victoria in a 5:30 p.m. first pitch before traveling to Nacogdoches, Texas for three with Stephen F. Austin over the weekend.
