CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – It was a classic Friday night setup, ace vs. ace as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Lamar sent their best arms to the mound in the series opener and both Chris Falwell and Will Hibbs turned in yeoman's work in a 1-0 duel claimed by Lamar.
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Falwell (1-3) was spectacular for the Islanders. The junior went a career-long eight innings and struck out a career-high 11 Cardinals (23-7, 8-2). All night long, Falwell negotiated the dangerous Lamar lineup with relative ease and matched his previous best of eight punchouts in just five innings.
Unfortunately for Falwell and the Islanders (11-18, 3-7), Hibbs was just a bit better. The Lamar ace hurled a complete-game gem. Right from the get-go, it was apparent Hibbs was in complete control as the right-hander struck out the side in the bottom of the first. It was the first of 10 strikeouts for Hibbs on the night as he went the distance without issuing a single walk.
"In our pregame speech we talked about strikeout-to-walk ratio," said head coach Scott Malone. "It was the only area their guy [Hibbs] was coming into the game a notch better than Falwell. Turning that around on us at the plate, we tend to strikeout too much and not earn free passes. I told them that'd be the key to tonight's game – could we get a hit-by-pitch or force a walk or two – but he was relentless all night."
Falwell produced arguably his most impressive performance of the season in the loss. The southpaw kept a Lamar order which entered the game hitting .304 off-balance all-night long. In fact, one Cardinal, shortstop Stijn van der Meer accounted for three of the six hits off of Falwell. The Islander held Lamar to a .207 clip at the plate, nearly .100 points below the Cardinals' season average.
"I thought Fawell was outstanding with the exception of one four-pitch walk to start an inning and it got him," said Malone. "He paid for it with another loss. Obviously at the end of the day, we've got to get better offensively. I thought that Hibbs was as good as we've seen stuff-wise all year."
The four-pitch walk which came around to haunt Falwell opened the third inning. After putting the 8-hole Chaneng Varela aboard to open the inning, a single from the bottom man in the order, Brendan Satran, turned the lineup over with two aboard and no outs.
A single from van der Meer loaded the bases for the Cardinals' top RBI producer Jake Nash. Still, Falwell exhibited poise, escaping the inning with just the one run scored by inducing a double-play ball from Nash and striking out the next batter.
The Islanders could never bounce back and strike for a run as Hibbs dominated on the hill. Mustering just five hits against the Lamar righty, the Islanders had just two true chances to score, both coming with two outs.
In the fourth inning, back-to-back, 2-out singles from Zacarias Hardy and Nick Anderson put a runner in scoring position, but Hibbs induced a pop-out to end the inning. The Islanders only other runner in scoring position came in the seventh as Anderson singled again and Austin Krajnak pinch-hit with a single. Again, Hibbs worked out of the trouble, this time getting a ground out to second for the final out.
UP NEXT
The Islanders and Cardinals continue their series on Saturday at 4 p.m. Devin Skapura is slated to take the ball for the Islanders.
