Baseball Heads to Southland Conference Tournament

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HAMMOND, La. – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi earned the No. 4 seed and will face No. 5 Sam Houston to open Southland Conference Tournament action on Wednesday, May 26 at 9 a.m. on Pat Kennelly Diamond at Alumni Field.  

This marks the Islanders' eighth tournament appearance in program history and fourth time as the No. 4 seed or higher.

Islander Notes

• The Islanders placed four on the Southland's all-conference teams, headlined by Itchy Burts' first-team selection while adding a second-team nod to John Gaddis and third team picks Mike Williams and Luke Marbach. Marbach also landed on the league's all-defensive team at first base.
• With his second first-team distinction, Burts is the first player in program history to make repeat appearances on the list.   
• This season's No. 4 seed marks the highest for the Islanders since they entered the tournament as the No. 3 in 2014.
• Rain canceled A&M-Corpus Christi's final five games as the club finished with a program record 20 conference victories, surpassing 19 set in 2011 & 2014. The sixth series win marks the most since 2017 for Coach Malone's squad.
• A&M-Corpus Christi picked up its fifth Southland series win and sixth of the season to clinch a spot in the Southland tournament after a three-game sweep of Southeastern Louisiana in the Islanders final home set. The Islanders opened the series with back-to-back walk off wins in Friday's doubleheader before mounting an offensive comeback in a big 10-6 victory on Saturday.
• Tristan Welch broke out the heroics in a pair of walk-off victories against SLU, singling through the right side to chase home the winning run in a 4-3, extra-inning affair and then beating the tag at home on the sacrifice fly to steal the 2-1 win and seal the Islanders' twin bill sweep.
• The Islanders received big offensive help from the bottom half of its lineup as Welch, Justin Taylor, Leo Markotic, Cole Fluta and Scott Hastings combined for 18 of the Islanders' 28 hits on the weekend, seven of those being extra-base hits. Welch paced the group with a combined six hits and five runs through three games.
• Junior hurler John Gaddis moved into a tie for ninth in the complete-game, single-season column with four and is tied with Jimmy Hamon (2003) for the top spot in shutouts with two. On the all-time list, Gaddis' two shutouts ranks first alongside Trey Hearne (2004-05) and Jimmy Hamon (2003). His four-complete games ranks 11^th nationally in the category.
• Gaddis' 2.52 ERA is third best amongst the Southland, in his last six starts he's pitched 41.1 innings and tallied 41 strikeouts.
• Hayden Thomas struck out six in his win against SLU to boost his total to 83 on the season and is five punchouts away from tying the ninth spot on the Islander single-season records.
• The Islanders tie alongside UIW for second in the league in triples (16), as Ryan and Josh Caraway combine for eight of those.
• Luke Marbach carried a 27-game reached-base streak through the regular season and ranks sixth in the league in on-base percentage (.433).
• A&M-Corpus Christi lands two on the league's top slugging percentages, as Caraway (.533) ranks ninth and Marbach (.507) is 15^th overall.
• Thomas sits among the Southland leaderboards, ranking first in strike outs looking (32) and sixth in overall strikeouts (83).
• A&M-Corpus Christi head coach Scott Malone is in his 14^th season at the helm of the Islanders and boasts a career record of 345-387-2 and 186-210-2 in Southland play.

Scouting the Opponent

• Preseason favorite Sam Houston finished the regular season with a 3-1 series win over Nicholls to secure the No. 5 seed in the tournament.
• Bearkats' Colton Cowser earned the league's Player of the Year distinction, being one of three Sam Houston players to earn all-conference nods.
• The Kats are making their 18th appearance in the tournament, having advanced to the title game 8 times. Sam Houston is 36-23 all-time in the event with a league-record 6 tournament titles.
• A&M-Corpus Christi will face either Abilene Christian or Lamar in the next game of a double-elimination bracket.

Series History

• Sam Houston claimed a 3-1 series win over the Islanders earlier this season.
• The No. 8 Islanders defeated No. 1 Sam Houston twice in past tournament matchups in 2012 and 2019.

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