CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Playing in the Blue and Green for the final time, eight Texas A&M-Corpus Christi seniors made one last memory on Chapman Field as the Islanders scored five times in the eighth to break open a tied game and sweep Abilene Christian with a 7-3 win on Saturday.
Senior catcher
Lukas Hermanson provided the big blow, roping a bases-clearing triple into left center field as part of the Islanders' five-run eighth inning. The three-bagger was the first of the season for Hermanson and just the third of his career on the Island as the senior made his final at-bat one to remember.
Nick Anderson and senior
Brian Deaver started the big inning with two-out RBI singles as the Blue and Green broke open a 2-2 tie.
On the mound, senior
Brian Allec got the start and went a career-high four innings. Allec allowed just two runs on three hits in his outing.
Corpus Christi (22-32, 14-16) opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning on Anderson's towering home run to left. The sophomore took a 2-2 offering from Derek Scott and deposited it well beyond the left field wall to score senior
Cullen Jozwiak who had singled earlier in the inning.
From there, the Islanders were unable to solve Scott again until the decisive eighth. Meanwhile, ACU (13-39, 3-27) clawed even in the fifth as a leadoff single and double chased Allec from the game. The Wildcats got a sacrifice fly and two-out single to score twice and level the game.
Neither side mustered much of a threat until the eighth when the Islanders reeled off three straight singles to open the inning. Senior
Dawson Yates started the rally with a drive right back up the middle before
Jackson Owens and
Dalton Stark loaded the bases with their singles.
After ACU went to the pen, a strikeout and fielder's choice left the Islanders on the edge of stranding the bases loaded, but Anderson hit the perfect chopper to the left side, bounding over the third baseman's head to break the tie. A batter later, Deaver hit a nearly identical chopper, this one past the first baseman to score another.
With a 4-2 lead, Hermanson made sure to erase any doubt remaining in the game as his bases-clearing triple made it 7-2.
In the top of the ninth, the Islander seniors got their curtain call as all five position players were lifted while senior
Devin Skapura came out of the bullpen with one out to finish off the game.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
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Nick Anderson finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and a pair of runs scored.
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Brian Deaver finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
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Lukas Hermanson produced three RBI with his triple.
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Cole Carter tossed two scoreless innings in relief.
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Chris Cooper threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out four.
FINAL SWEEP
The Islanders end the 2017 season with the sweep while winning seven of their last eight games on the year. Despite the late-season charge, Blue and Green fell just short of making the Southland Conference Tournament.
