CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - After beginning the game with an 0-3 deficit, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball program rallied for a 5-3 victory in the first night of the Kleberg Bank College Classic at Whataburger Field.
"Welcome to D1 college baseball," said head coach
Scott Malone. "56 games in 14 weeks can cause a lot of ups and down and you try to ride it out and get the players to play hard. We did talk about before of how we needed to win tonight in the opening night of the Kleberg Bank College Classic against big name schools. People see it when you play the big names and it's a grteat way for us to start off the weekend."
Junior
Tyler Miller led the way for the pitchers, putting up 5.2 innings of work only allowing five hits while earning ten strikeouts. He was able to trick eight of the batters into swinging strikeouts in his time on the mound. Freshman
Clay Westbrook would come in during the sixth inning for his second appearance as an Islander. Through 2.1 innings, he was able to strikeout three batters in the nine he faced. Senior
Daniel Nelson pitched one inning to close out the game in the victory.
The sixth inning led the Islanders to the 3-3 tie that would start their victory rally. Sophomore
Diego Johnson singled to get on base before junior
Brendan Ryan also singled, advancing Johnson a base. Junior
Leo Markotic would step up to the plate, continuing the streak of singles before advancing to second on an error by the center fielder. The error was just enough for Johnson to make his way into home to make the score 3-1.
In the next at bat for A&M-Corpus Christi, sophomore
Brandon Petkoff was walked, which allowed fellow sophomore
Tre Jones to come in to pinch run. After a strikeout, sophomore MAx Puls was walked which brought in Ryan to score. The series of events brought out a pitching change for Wichita State that didn't seem to matter. Junior
Justin Taylor singled to right field, advancing the runners a base with Markotic scoring on the play to tie the game at three a piece.
The bottom of the eighth inning claimed the win for the team. Puls singled to the pitcher in the second at bat of the half inning before making a daring move to steal second.
Caden Queck, a sophomore, came in to pinch hit for
Nick Mueller, another sophomore. During the at bat, Puls was able to advance to third on a passed ball before Queck would be walked shortly after.
Still in the bottom of the eighth, freshman
Cole Modgling would come into the game to pinch run for Queck, quickly stealing second. Sophomore
Tyler Linneweber would put the game to rest by singling up the middle which brought in Puls and Modgling to make the score 5-3, where it would remain.
"Linneweber has been over my expectations," said Malone. "His job is to make the double play at the end of the inning. I'm proud of him tonight."
A&M-Corpus Christi will resume play at the Kleberg Bank College Classic on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. against Iowa.
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