Owens Plays 'Mr. Clutch' In Walk-Off Victory

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Standing three games outside of the final seed in this year's Southland Conference Championship tournament coming into Friday, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi faces a slate of 'must win' contests for the remainder of the year, and the Islanders did not dissapoint in Game One against Incarnate Word. Going to extra innings for the fifth time in 2018, senior Jackson Owens supplied his second walk-off hit of the past three games, to put his squad up a game in their series with the Cardinals.

Taking to the hill for his 13th start of the season, Aaron Hernandez provided a superb performance for the Blue and Green, holding UIW to a single earned run over 7.1 innings of work. Coming into the affair with 88 Ks on the season, the righty sat down nine Cardinal batters on strikes over the course of his outing, while keeping the Cards to a combined four hits. Before the start of the weekend, Incarnate Word averaged nearly 10 hits per contest while striking out less than six times per nine innings.

The Cardinals would open the scoring on Friday, tabulating a pair of unearned runs in the second, before going up 3-0 in the third. The Islanders climbed back with a wild response in the fourth however, with Drake Osborn reaching first on a wild pitch to lead off the frame. A UIW error would allow center fielder Dalton Stark to reach first later in the frame, as Corpus Christi mounted a four-hit two-out rally to tie things up at three apiece.

Junior Nick Anderson tallied the second of his three knocks in the fourth, with Andriud Martinez and Steven Rivera-Chijin tallying a pair of RBI on a double and a single respectively. With the two sides combining for just three hits over the next three and a half, the Islanders would score the go ahead run on a Martinez sac fly in the eighth, as the Islanders looked destined to finish things at 4-3.

The Cardinals evened things out in the final frame however, scoring on a pair of singles and two HBP, pushing things to extras for the Islanders for the fifth time in 2018. Senior right hander Chris Cooper took control of the contest in the final two innings, as the vet worked around a pair of Cardinal knocks in the 10th, and retired three straight in the 11th.

With the pressure on, the Blue and Green once again responded to the situation, with Thomas Jeffries IV supplying a two-out pinch-hit single for his team's first base runner in extras, further reaching second on a UIW throwing error. After touching third on a passed ball, the Cardinal pitching staff chose to intentionally walk Itchy Burts, giving Owens his second walk-off opportunity of the past two weekends.

As he's done so many times this season, Owens proved himself as a clutch hitter, dropping a high-hanging double down the right field line to score Jeffries, and give the Islanders their third walk-off win of the season in a 5-4 final after 11.

• With the Islanders' win and Nicholls' loss to New Orleans on Friday, the Blue and Green are now within just two games of the eighth seed in the Southland Conference standings
• Anderson tallied a season-high with his three hits on the afternoon, extending his hitting streak to five straight games
• After his eighth inning single, third baseman Enrique Sanchez Jr. has touched first safely in his past 15 outings
• Itchy Burts' single extends his own hitting streak to 16, the longest streak of any Islander in 2018
• Rivera-Chijin has been looking hitterish as of late, recording his second multi-hit performance in his last three starts, while going 2-for-4 with an RBI against the Cardinals
• The Islanders' pitching staff set a new single season school record on Friday, with Hernandez recording his team's 421st strikeout of the year in the second inning. The Blue and Green now sit at 433 Ks on the year, with five regular season contests remaining
• Corpus Christi struck out 14 Cards over the course of game one, a season-high for the visiting side. Coming into the contest UIW had struck out in double digits just four times on the year, with a previous high of 11

COMING UP NEXT
The Islanders look to clinch their third SLC series win of the past four weekends with Game Two's first pitch currently scheduled for Saturday at 4 PM. Corpus Christi will be looking for their third straight three-game series victory over the Cardinals, and try to improve on their 8-1 record against the Cardinals inside the Chap all-time.

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