CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi junior Chris Falwell spun a complete game, 1-hit shutout to lead the Islanders to a 5-0 win in the series opener versus Incarnate Word Friday night.
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Under the lights at Chapman Field, Falwell (3-5) shined brighter than the southpaw ace has all season long, producing his first complete game and setting a career high for innings pitched. He was dominant all night, allowing just a single in the second inning and recording seven 3-up, 3-down innings. Falwell threw 72 of his 103 pitches for strikes, fanning nine Cardinals without issuing a walk.
"We talked about it in the pregame meeting," said head coach Scott Malone. "With him not throwing last week, we just felt like the guy had the eye of the tiger walking around here for an hour this afternoon. We felt like if we could just get him a couple of runs early, it would let him settle in and that's just the way it played out. We got him a couple runs and I thought he was dominant from the first inning to the ninth."
With their ace dealing on the hill, the Islanders (19-32, 8-20) produced more than enough run support, scoring in four different frames for the Friday night victory. Dawson Yates launched a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first that withstood as the winning run. Yates finished 3-for-5 to lead the Islander attack at the top of the order.
"I thought Yates did a really nice job," said Malone. "Talking about him, Brett Burner is another guy that's right there with him, a junior that's coming back next year. Obviously you're in this position now where you're trying to win every game we can right now, but you've got one eye on how are we going to get this thing better next year. Those two are looking like two guys we can build that offense around next year. They're giving us good energy and good at bats. I love the way those guys are playing."
The aforementioned Burner finished the day 2-for-4 with an RBI, extending his hot run at the plate which has seen him go 11 for his last 19 at-bats.
Yates homered to open the first, the three straight singles in the third inning from Yates, Casey Thomas and Zacarias Hardy added a second run. From there, the Islanders turned it over to the man on the mound.
After allowing the Cardinals' only hit in the second inning, Falwell retired the next 11 men he faced. An error in the sixth broke the string, but a 6-4-3 double play erased the miscue. After the second inning, Falwell retired the side in order for each of the next six innings.
In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals put together their only threat of the night as Falwell committed back-to-back errors to open the inning. But, like he did following his first error, the left-hander induced a double play, this of the 4-6-3 variety to get a pair of outs. A batter later, Falwell finished off the 1-hitter with a ground out from Eddy Gonzalez.
The ace finished the game just two over the minimum 27 batters faced.
The Islanders added insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings to produce the 5-0 final. In the seventh, Brian Deaver led off with a single and scored on a fielder's choice from Thomas. Deaver added an RBI single the following inning as the Islanders scored a pair of runs on four hits with Burner picking up the other RBI.
SENIOR DAY SATURDAY
The Islanders will close out the season with a doubleheader tomorrow at noon. Six seniors will be recognized prior to the first game as the Blue and Green looks to end the year with back-to-back series victories.
"Obviously, you want to go out on top," said Malone. "It's going to be an emotional day tomorrow. Six seniors are going to get out here for the last time, their families will be with them, so it won't be easy tomorrow. There will be a lot of emotion flowing through that dugout. Dalton D'Spain is going to come back into the starting rotation and I know those guys want to show well. They have a lot of pride in this program and their years here. We didn't meet our goals this year, but I know they want to go out on a good note."
