CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi continued its trend of first-inning scoring on Wednesday night, beating visiting Texas Southern 7-5 in its last midweek contest of the 2018 season.
The Islanders improved their record to 14-2 when scoring in the opening frame, when a
Jackson Owens bomb put the home team ahead by two in the first.
Itchy Burts started off his team's nigh offensively with a single up the middle, before Owens sent his second long ball of the year over the right field fence. Burts' knock extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games, while Owens has gone 3-for-8 (.375) in his last two appearances.
Holding a 2-0 lead, the Blue and Green put up another crooked number in the bottom half of the second, with designated hitter
Scott Balfantz leading off the frame on a single through the right side. Burts,
Enrique Sanchez Jr. and
Harrison DiNicola would boost their team's scoring with a two-out rally, driving in a pair of runs on three straight singles through the infield.
Sanchez added his second RBI of the night in the fifth on his double to right center, before the Tigers would finally get on the board in the seventh. Leading by four, the Islanders collected their fourth leadoff hit of the night on
Nick Anderson's double in the bottom of inning number seven. The junior would score later in the frame on a wild pitch, with Sanchez scoring his side's final run of the night on a dropped fly ball in the eighth.
Texas Southern began mounting a comeback in the final term, with a three-run homer bringing the visiting Tigers within just two runs. With the tying run at the plate, and a man on second, righty reliever
Cole Carter finished the night on a five-pitch strikeout, earning his second save of the 2018 campaign.
Starting right hander
Tate Gillespie improved his season record to 2-2, holding TSU scoreless through his three-inning spot start. Lefty reliever
A.G. Ayala posted a team-high four strikeouts on the night, in relief of Gillespie, as the Islander pitching staff sat down 10 Texas Southern batters on strikes in a 7-5 victory.
- Burts extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games with his 2-for-5 night, improving his team-leading batting average to .388. The sophomore has hit in all but one game since April 2nd, sporting a .403 BA during that timeframe
- Owens' long ball brings his team's total to 23 on the season, tying their total from 2017, with nine games still remaining on schedule
- Sanchez recorded a team-high three knocks on the night, extending his own hitting streak to five contests
- Outfielder Dalton Stark has been hot at the plate recently, the senior has been hitting .300 in his last seven appearances, boosting his season batting average from .209 to .226 since the start of April
- Leonel Perez, Chris Cooper and Cole Carter combined for 2.0 innings of shutout relief, with Cooper retiring all three batters he faced in just eight pitches
COMING UP NEXT
With the season winding down, the Islanders have three more series to try and move into the final spot in this year's Southland Conference Championship tournament. Corpus Christi is currently three games outside of the eighth and final postseason seed, facing off with fifth-ranked McNeese at home this Friday through Sunday.
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- Go Islanders -
