Southland Starts at Sam Houston State

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Riding a four-game winning streak, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball heads to Huntsville to challenge defending Southland Conference Champion Sam Houston State.
 
The three game series opens Friday at 6 p.m. before continuing Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. The weekend marks the Southland Conference opener for the Islanders. Sam Houston State is already 3-0 after sweeping Lamar last weekend.
 
WARMING UP
 
>> The Islanders have found their footing over the past two weeks and have now won four straight and 5-of-6.
>> The run includes a sweep of UTRGV over the weekend and a midweek trouncing of Prairie View.
>> Over the weekend series at UTRGV, the Islanders receive three quality starts from the pitching staff. The quality outings were the first of the year for the Islanders.
 
DRIVING THE RUN
 
>> During the four-game winning streak, the Islanders are hitting .307 with 29 runs scored.
>> The Blue and Green is slugging .455 over the last four with nine doubles, two triples and two long balls.
>> At the same time, the Islanders pitching has come to life as the Blue and Green has allowed just 12 earned runs in the past four games.
>> The three weekend starters allowed just three runs combined over 21 innings of work at UTRGV.
 
SWINGING AT SHORT
 
>>Senior Cullen Jozwiak has completed a 180 at the plate. After hitting just .206 last season, Jozwiak leads the league at .426 in 2017.
>> Jozwiak is tied for the team lead with 12 RBI despite missing two games with a concussion.
>> He currently sits 39th in the nation in batting average.
 
TOUGH OUTS
 
>> Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is home to two of the toughest men to strike out in the country.
>> Itchy Burts and Brett Burner both rank among the top 35 in the nation in at-bats per strikeout.
>> Burner is 33rd, going 19.5 at-bats per strikeout.
>> Burts is just behind in 35th at 19.0 at-bats per K.
 
COMING HOME
 
Following the weekend slate at Sam Houston State, the Islanders return to Chapman Field to host UIW in a non-conference midweek game before host Northwestern State over the coming weekend.