ARLINGTON, Texas – An early hole aided by unearned runs proved too much for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to overcome in its first road trip of the season as the Islanders fell to UT Arlington 6-2 on Friday night.
The Mavericks (6-4) jumped out with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning, capitalizing on a walk and error to score the two runs on two hits. After a quite second, the Mavs struck again as an error at third to open the inning proved vital as the frame was extended a batter to Noah Vaughn. The right fielder ran into a 3-2 pitch, sending it over the right field wall to double the UTA lead to 4-0.
The Islanders (4-5) cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth as the Blue and Green used a pair of hits to plate two runs. Brett Burner singled and later scored on Cullen Jozwiak's RBI-double to right. Jozwiak, had a solid day at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with the RBI and double to break out of his early season slump. Catcher Lukas Hermanson drove Jozwiak home with a grounder to short, making the score 4-2 midway through the game.
UT Arlington stemmed the momentum, though, scoring a run in the bottom half of the inning to keep the Islanders at bay en route to the 6-2 win.
"We are not playing at a high enough level right now," said head coach Scott Malone. "We are just average right now in all facets of the game. We nee to pitch, defend and execute offensively at a much higher level."
UT Arlington starter Joel Kuhnel (2-1) kept the Islanders off balance as the Maverick tossed 6 2/3 innings while scattering six hits and allowing just the two earned runs.
Opposite Kuhnel, A&M-Corpus Christi starter Devin Skapura (1-2) took his second consecutive loss as the junior allowed five runs, only three of which were earned, on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings.
COOPER STRONG AGAIN
Redshirt sophomore Chris Cooper worked a third straight solid outing in relief. Cooper came in to replace Skapura in the fifth and was able to get out of a two on, one out jam without any further damage. The right-hander would go on to work 2 2/3 innings of shutout baseball striking out a pair without allowing a single hit.
Cooper dropped his ERA to 1.74 on the season and opponents are now hitting just .091 off of him in 10 2/3 innings.
SINGLES
• Zack Gibson extended his hitting streak to six games and has reached base in every game this season.
• Jozwiak's 2-for-3 day marks his first multi-hit game of the season.
• Brian Allec made his first appearance of the season, allowing a single run in the ninth.
SATURDAY TWIN BILL
The Islanders and Mavericks resume their four-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow at noon and 3 p.m.
"We need Chris Falwell to set the tempo in game one and get the team going in the right direction," said Malone.
