ABILENE, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi extends its winning streak to four straight games this Thursday, dropping Abilene Christian 7-5 in the pair's series opener. With the Islanders victory, along with losses from New Orleans and Sam Houston State, the Blue and Green move within a single game of the final two spots in this year's Southland Conference Championship tournament.
Jackson Owens opened the scoring in what was a back-and-forth Thursday contest.
Itchy Burts extended his current hitting streak to 19 with a leadoff single, before an
Enrique Sanchez Jr. knock to center field and an Owens sac fly scored the starting outfielder.
A walk and a pair of hits in the bottom half of the second led to a 2-1 lead for ACU, but the home team's advantage would not last long, as the Islanders climbed back with a three-run fourth.
The Blue and Green recorded six hits in frame number four, starting with back-to-back singles from Owens and
Thomas Jeffries IV, before being driven in on
Nick Anderson's ninth double of 2018.
Drake Osborn,
Steven Rivera-Chijin and Burts strung together three consecutive singles later in the inning, further giving their team a 4-2 advantage heading into the fifth.
The lead changed for the fourth time during the fifth, with the Wildcats registering three more runs on three hits and an error. True to form however, the Islanders would record their fourth straight come from behind win, while adding a pair in the following inning.
The Islanders led off the frame with a hit for a third time on the evening, as Osborn, Rivera and Burts loaded the bases on three straight singles. Sanchez added Corpus Christi's fourth hit of the inning on a single through the left side, before Harrison Dinicola gave the visitors the go ahead on a sac fly.
Dinicola was not finished however, as the starting third baseman added his eighth homer of the year on a fly ball to right field. With a single out and an 0-2 count, Dinicola drove a shot over the right field wall, giving Corpus Christi the insurance run they needed before the bottom half of the frame.
Coming in during the fifth inning, left hander Cody Lecompte provided 4.1 IP of shutout relief of starter
Aaron Hernandez. Lecompte gave up just two hits and a walk, while striking out three and improving his record to 2-2 on the way to clinching the Islanders' 7-5 win.
- Hernandez sat down five batters on strikes to bring his total to 102 for the year, making the righty the seventh arm in Islander history to reach the 100 K mark in a single year
- Eight of the Islanders' nine starters had hits on the day, with Burts and Sanchez collecting three apiece
- Burts is currently on a 19-game hitting streak, scoring a run in each of his past three contests
- Sanchez tallied three hits for the fifth time in his last seven appearances, he's hitting .563 since May 2nd
- Jackson Owens improved his own hitting streak to nine, driving in runs for his fourth consecutive appearance
- Corpus Christi is now within just a single game of a spot in the SLC tourney this season, tied with Nicholls for ninth in the standings
COMING UP NEXT
The Islanders look to win their third straight Southland Conference series with a Game Two victory this Friday at 2 PM. Lefty freshman
A.G. Ayala will be taking the hill for the second start of his career, after tossing 7.0 IP in a win over UIW the previous weekend.
STAY SOCIAL
For more information on Islanders Baseball, follow the team on Twitter (
@IslandersBSB), Instagram (
@islandersbsb) and like their Facebook page (
Islanders Baseball).
- Go Islanders -
