Islanders Unable To Quell Cardinal Offense

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Some hot hitting from Lamar was too much for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to overcome this Friday, as the visiting Cardinals took game one of this weekend's series 12-2.

Making his ninth start of the season, right-hander Aaron Hernandez took the hill against the Cards, striking out 10 Lamar batters in his five-inning start. Holding LU to just three hits over the opening four frames, the righty struck out the side in the fifth, but not before the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Using three different arms in relief of Hernandez, the Islanders surrendered another three runs in the sixth, before the Islanders would get the opportunity to strike in the seventh.

With back-to-back walks from Thomas Jeffries IV and Cam Boudreaux to start off the inning, designated hitter Jackson Owens drove the pair in on his second triple of the afternoon to pull his team back within four. Owens' came into Friday's contest ranked 14th in the country regarding triples, and now has a team-high of six on the year, with his pair against LU.

Four Blue and Green arms wrapped up the final three innings of game one, as the Cardinals put up another six runs in the final third of the contest. Hernandez' 10 strikeouts mark the third time he's reached double digits in 2018, as Corpus Christi retired 13 Lamar batters on strikes over the course of the evening.

• Harrison DiNicola and Nick Anderson each tallied a single for the Blue and Green, with the former stealing his fifth base of 2018
• Andriud Martinez is 3-for-4 over his past two contests with his single against Lamar on Friday
• Jesse Philp made his third shutout appearance of the season, he's allowed just two earned runs over five appearances this year
• With his single in the eighth, Anderson has touched first in nine of the Islanders' last 10 games

COMING UP NEXT
The Blue and Green gets back to work on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 4 PM. Freshman Leo Perez will be making his fifth career start against Lamar, and his first as a part of the weekend rotation.

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