ABILENE, Texas - After a Game One dog fight, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi coasted to a Friday victory against Abilene Christian, downing the Wildcats 9-2. The Islanders' win clinches this weekend's series with ACU, while extending their win streak to five straight and putting their side in a favorable position toward qualifying for this year's postseason conference tournament.
Being forced to scrape back from early deficits in its previous four matchups, the Blue and Green took an early lead in Game Two of their current series and never looked back. The Islanders once again opened the afternoon's scoring in the first, posting three runs during a two-out rally in the opening frame.
With Harrison Dinicola drawing a walk in his first plate appearance of the day, the first baseman went on to steal second before crossing home plate on a
Jackson Owens single through the left side.
Nick Anderson drove his fifth homer of the year over the left field in the following at bat to put his side ahead 3-0, as the outfielder extended his hitting streak to three straight.
The Wildcats pulled a single run back in the third, before the Islanders would all but seal the deal with a big fifth frame.
With three straight knocks to open the inning, Owens crossed home plate for the second time on
Drake Osborn's RBI single, followed by an
RJ Ruiz walk to load the bases for
Itchy Burts. Tallying his third hit of the afternoon, Burts laced a double through the left side of the infield to clear the bases and secure a 7-1 advantage for the visitors.
A sac fly in the bottom of the sixth registered the Wildcats second run, one of the few marks against a near perfect day for starter
A.G. Ayala. The left handed freshman allowed just four hits and a pair of runs over 7.0 innings of work, on the way to tying a career-high in strikeouts, with seven. Friday's outing was just the second start of Ayala's career, as the first-year Islander has recorded 21 outs in each of his starts. His ERA for the season has dropped down to 2.86 over the past two weeks, while his career average as a starter sits at just 2.57.
The Blue and Green plated their last two runs of the contest in the top half of the eighth, after Anderson put himself into scoring position on his second extra-base knock of the contest. The junior scored his third run on an Osborn single, finishing his day a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate and one HBP.
After Ayala's quality start,
Cole Carter and
Chris Cooper combined for two innings of perfect relief, with Cooper ending the day on the Islanders' eighth K of a 9-2 victory.
- Anderson and Burts each tallied four hits, with the former tying a career-high and the latter extending his hit-streak to 20 consecutive contests
- Anderson came up a triple short of the cycle in Game Two on the way to driving in two runs
- Burts four RBI tie the career-high he set earlier this year against Stephen F. Austin, while picking up his seventh double of 2018
- Ayala's record improves to 5-1 after his win, giving him the best record of any Islander pitcher this year
- Osborn and Owens each collected a pair of knocks against the Wildcats. Owens is on an active 10-game hit streak, driving in 11 runs over that span
- With Incarnate Word's Game Two loss, the Islanders are now in a tie for the eighth seed in this year's Southland Conference tournament, and can enter a three-way tie with New Orleans for the seventh seed if Northwestern State can beat the Privateers later in the evening
The Islanders earn a postseason spot in any of the following scenarios
A) The Islanders win on Saturday AND Nicholls loses one of its last two games against Central Arkansas
B) The Islanders win on Saturday AND New Orleans loses their last two games against Northwestern State
C) Incarnate Word loses its Saturday contest with Sam Houston AND Nicholls loses both of its last two games against Central Arkansas
D) Additionally the Islanders can earn a seventh seed with a win on Saturday AND New Orleans loses their last two games against Northwestern State AND Nicholls loses one of its last two game against Central Arkansas
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