Baseball Earns Victory In Season Opener

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team won its first game of the season against UT Arlington at Clay Gould Ballpark in game one of the series. 

"This team is going to be as good as our pitching and man did they show up today," said head coach Scott Malone. "I love having older, experienced players on the field. They expect to win and they're not surprised when the game goes their way."

Sophomore Jaime Ramirez Jr. earned the win for the Islanders after pitching 4.1 innings and facing 19 batters through the performance. Junior Hayden Thomas started the game and pitched two innings before Ramirez Jr. came in for relief in the third inning. Senior Daniel Nelson came in during the seventh inning to close out the game.

Thomas had three strikeouts in two two innings of work while Ramirez and Nelson had two a piece for a total of seven.

Heading into the top of the first, the team built momentum that would propel them for the rest of the game. Junior Brendan Ryan was second up for the Islanders and hit a single out to center before sophomore Josh Caraway got to first on a walk. Knowing what was at stake, junior Justin Taylor took to the plate and hit a ball to right field, driving in Ryan for a 1-0 lead. 

"Any time you score first, you can breath," said Malone. "Ryan hits the big two-run home run to make the score four and everyone was able to relax a bit."

In the top of the second, the bats continued to catch fire as sophomore Brendan Petkoff singled, which allowed fellow sophomore Diego Johnson to advance to second after being walked. The charge of the sophomores continued with Tyler Linneweber hitting a sacrifice fly with both runners advancing another base. Leo Markotic, a junior, ensured another run for the team with a fly ball, bringing in Johnson to score. 

The Islanders exploded for a huge fifth inning that ultimately led to the victory. Markotic was walked in the top of the fifth before Ryan came to the plate and launched a ball out of the park in right field for a home run and the RBI. With the Mavericks' pitcher shaken, Caraway walked and senior Steven Rivera-Chijin singled, allowing Caraway to spring to third. Sophomore Max Puls reached on a fielding error to load the bases before the inning concluded with a fly out.

"Today I was trying to help my teammates and be a team player," said Ryan. "I saw some pitches that were left up and I was able to do some stuff with it. Keeping it simple and not trying to do too much."

Entering the eighth inning with a narrow 4-3 lead, the Islanders looked to extend their breathing room. Johnson and Petkoff both singled, with Johnson reaching third on the latter. Linneweber once again came out and had a ground out to advance Petkoff to second. The runners were narrowly left stranded with a strikeout to end the half inning. Nelson took down the Mavericks' lineup in order to bring the inning to a close.

Ryan slammed a triple out to center field and then Caraway walked in the top of the ninth, but both runners were left on base. Nelson then took the mound to take care of business and finish the game on a strikeout.

A&M-Corpus Christi will return to action Saturday at 2:00 p.m. for game two against UT Arlington.

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