CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team welcomed the University of Texas to Whataburger Field for a midweek showdown. Over 4,700 fans packed into the home of the Corpus Christi Hooks, as the Islanders and Longhorns battled for the second time this season.
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Cullen Jozwiak's leadoff home run was not enough to hold off the Texas onslaught, as the visitors out-dueled the Blue and Green 12-2.
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After Islanders (9-16) starting pitcher
Nolan Holland (0-2) struck out two of the first five batters in the top of the first, Jozwiak crushed the ninth pitch of his at-bat over the wall in left to put the Islanders out in front.
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Later in the inning,
Dawson Yates broke for second when
Jackson Owens struck out. As Yates beat the throw for the double play,
Luke Marbach darted home to make it 2-0 Islanders.
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From that point on, Texas (18-10) starting pitcher Nick Kennedy (4-0) silenced the bats for the Blue and Green. The lefty finished the night with 11 strikeouts, while allowing two earned runs on seven hits with two free passes.
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Holland worked his way through to the fourth before making way for
Korey Rasure. The Islanders starter finished with seven earned runs against on a pair of hits with four walks.
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Texas picked up nine of their runs in the second and fourth. Tate Shaw unleashed a grand slam to give the Longhorns the 4-2 lead in the second. Holland exited with the bases loaded in the fourth before Texas struck for five runs on four straight base hits.
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Longhorns' catcher Michael Cantu extended the lead to 11-2 with a two-run homer in the sixth. Shaw notched his fifth RBI of the night with a groundout in the seventh to close out the game.
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The Islanders will have a quick turnaround, as they face UH-Victoria on the road tomorrow night, before heading up to New Orleans for a Southland Conference series this weekend.
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