Islanders knock off UT-Arlington in season opener, 5-1

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi baseball program (1-0, 0-0 Southland) overwhelmed visiting UT-Arlington (0-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) in the 2019 season opener, powering past the Mavericks by a 5-1 margin Friday evening at Chapman Field. After UTA managed to knot the score at one apiece in the top of the sixth, the Islanders composed a decisive offensive response in the bottom of the seventh, notching four runs off a pair of singles and one monster double to clinch the eventual victory.

KEY INNINGS
Bottom | 2nd
- Junior Drake Osborn jacked a deep double to left-center field to open the frame.
- Fellow junior Mike Williams managed to bring Osborn home on a planned sacrifice bunt gone awry, initially beating out the throw from third before advancing as the the toss glanced off the first baseman's glove. The error allowed Osborn to coast home, pushing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to an early 1-0 advantage.

Top | 6th
- Will Olson railed a pitch down the right-field line for a leadoff home run, tying the game at one apiece.

Bottom | 7th
- Sophomore Steven Rivera-Chijin wasted nearly no time after the Mavericks shifted to their bullpen for the first time (Drew Gooch), posting a single on the second at-bat of the inning.
- After Rivera-Chijin stole second, junior Itchy Burts found his way on-base with a walk.
- Senior Enrique Sanchez Jr. kept the pressure on one at-bat later, slicing another single up the middle to score Rivera-Chijin for the Islanders' first RBI of the season.
- Junior Joey Werner ended Gooch's time on the mound with yet another single, this time to right field, scoring Burts and setting Sanchez up in scoring position on second.
- Despite reliever Andrew Gross taking over for the Mavericks, senior Nick Anderson composed the Islanders' most dangerous hit of the night: a deep double to right field, plating both Sanchez and Werner in succession.

ON THE MOUND
- Junior Dustin Lacaze (0-0) took care of business in his first start of the season, striking out three while surrendering just two hits and a pair of walks across 4.2 innings of action.
- Meanwhile, reliever A.G. Ayala (1-0) secured his first win of the year behind 2.2 frames, generating two strikeouts with just four hits and one run allowed. Fellow sophomore John Gaddis closed up shop for the Islanders, tossing the final 1.2 innings with two strikeouts and no hits.

COMING UP NEXT
With season-opening jitters out of the way, the Islanders aim to keep the pressure visiting UT-Arlington, squaring off against the Mavericks on three more occasions: Saturday, Feb. 16 at 4 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m.

STAY SOCIAL
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