CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A 12-run offensive outburst was not enough for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to salvage a game against Lamar as the Cardinals twice rallied from 6-run deficits to sweep the weekend with a 15-12 win.
Two huge innings buoyed the Islanders (11-20, 3-9) into a pair of 6-run advantages in the second and fifth frames, but the Cardinals answered with runs in each of the following two innings in both instances to erase the big margin.
A 7-run second inning blew the lid off for an Islander attack that had mustered just one run in the previous 19 innings. Back-to-back doubles to lead the inning off by
Nick Anderson and
Justin Perales leveled the game at 1-1 and opened the floodgates.
Three batters later, Dawson Yates drove a 3-run home run to right center field to give the Islanders their first lead of the weekend at 4-1. The blast was Yates' first of the season and his first career homer as an Islander.
A solo home run from Zack Gibson followed by a single, error and 2-run Anderson triple made it a 7-1 game.
Lamar (25-7, 10-2) answered right back. The Cardinals used an error and solo home run to score two unearned in the third, cutting the lead to 7-3. The next inning, Lamar struck for three more as two hit batsmen and an error paved the way for the Cardinals to trim the lead down to one.
Freshman starter Aaron Hernandez did not have the same dazzling stuff he possessed at Texas on Tuesday night, but the rookie allowed just a single earned run as three errors allowed five unearned runs to come across the plate. Hernandez was chased after just three innings, allowing the six runs on just two hits.
The Islanders pushed the lead right back out, scoring five in the fifth inning to recapture a 6-run advantage. For the second time on the day, the Islanders batted around as five singles plated the five runs in the inning.
Again, Lamar would not go away as the Cardinals struck twice in the sixth off of reliever Garrett Harris to cut the lead to 12-8. Then in the top of the seventh, the Cardinals seized all the momentum with a huge 5-run frame to take their first lead of the afternoon. The damage was done on five hits off of reliever David Worrell (2-3) who took the loss.
From that point, Lamar reliever Fernando Martinez (2-2) shut the Islanders down at the plate, striking out eight while retiring the final 12 batters of the game to earn the win.
UP NEXT
The Islanders return to the diamond on Wednesday afternoon in San Antonio for a midweek, non-conference affair with Incarnate Word before a weekend tilt at Abilene Christian.
