CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A six-run eighth inning powered the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team to a 7-5 win over UH-Victoria on Tuesday night at Chapman Field.
Trailing by four heading into the eighth, the Islanders (2-10) rallied with six runs on four hits.
Brett Burner,
Cam Boudreaux and
Nick Anderson tallied back-to-back-to-back RBI, before
Scott Balfantz put the Blue and Green up by two on a fielder's choice to third.
Caleb Hanks earned his first win of the season for his three innings of one-hit work, including a career-high five strikeouts.
"It was the most excited that I've seen those guys in a long time," head coach
Scott Malone said. "We haven't won since opening night. We haven't played bad baseball since then, but things just haven't been going our way. We finally got one to turn for us. We had a huge eighth inning tonight. Some guys got some big hits for us, and it was a fun game to watch."
UH-Victoria (3-7) took the lead in the first inning off Andrew Gross' home run to center. The Jaguars added to the lead in the third off an error followed by an RBI double from Chase Almendarez.
Corpus Christi struck back in the bottom half of the third.
Itchy Burts reached first on an infield single, before
Nkosi Djehuti-Mes doubled down the left field line to put the Islanders on the board.
Chad Romere took over for starter
Aaron Rhodes in the fourth. Rhodes surrendered all five of the Jaguars' runs, four of them earned, on five hits with four punchouts.
Hanks followed Romere out of the bullpen in the top of the sixth, before Chris Copper came on for the save, striking out two in the ninth.
The Islanders gave up one hit in the final five innings.
"I want to say that Nkosi kept us in it," Malone added. "He got us some big hits tonight. Anderson and Burner saved their best for last. Nick is a star for this team and we'll go as far as he'll take us. We let him swing away in that last inning and he got a huge hit for us that really tuned the game. Burner kept plugging late in the game and came up big.""
NOTABLES
>> Anderson, Burner and Djehuti-Mes notched two hits apiece, with Burner bringing in a team-high two RBI.
>> Cooper's save was the second of his career.
>> Tuesday was the sixth time this season that the Islanders produced 10 base hits.
KEY INNINGS
TOP 1
>> The Jaguars took the lead on the one-out homer from Gross.
TOP 3
>> UHV benefited from a throwing error by Rhodes to take a 3-0 lead before the one-out RBI double from Almendarez.
BOTTOM 3
>> Burts opened the frame with an infield bunt and came home on Djehuti-Mes' standup RBI double.
BOTTOM 8
>>
Brian Deaver drew a walk to load the bases with
Dalton Stark on second and Djehuti-Mes on third.
>> The latter two came home when Burner singled through the right side to pull the Islanders within two.
>> Boudreaux drove in Deaver on a bunt down the first base line.
>> Anderson put the Islanders ahead for the first time in the game with an RBI single to center. A throwing error from the outfield brought Boudreaux in, as Anderson advanced to third.
>> A short chopper to third from
Scott Balfantz gave Anderson enough time to beat the throw home and give the Blue and Green an insurance run.
TOP 9
>> Cooper came in to close out the game with 11 pitches.
SHOWDOWN
The Islanders travel to face UT-Rio Grande Valley for a three-game series this weekend in the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union.
