CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's baseball program came up just short in its first game against Pepperdine in school history, being outscored 7-5 over the course of the game.
"I couldn't have asked much more of [senior]
Cassius Shy," said head coach
Scott Malone. "He set the tone and the tempo. Pounded the zone with strikes and gave the hitters a chance to get an early lead. I told [sophomore]
Kennedy Parks I thought he was outstanding today. He did a good job, but they had two big hitters put together two big hits."
Shy started the game for the Islanders and put up two innings of solid work, not allowing a run and striking out one batter before sophomore
Jaime Ramirez Jr. came in for relief. He would pitch the most innings with four where he earned three strikeouts through the appearance. Sophomore
Kennedy Parks would pitch 2.2 innings, coming in at the top of the seventh inning. Parks put together a good performance before freshman
Zach Garcia would close out the game.
The Islanders began the game with a hefty blow, taking a 1-0 lead with a sophomore
Max Puls home run to right field. Junior
Leo Markotic followed that up with a  single to center field before being thrown out in a double play right after. The inning then ended with a fly out.
In the bottom of the second, senior
Steven Rivera-Chijin tripled out to center field in his first appearance back since missing a few games. He then made it home to score on a sacrifice fly by sophomore
Josh Caraway. Fellow sophomore
Tyler Linneweber then walked before the inning ended on a fly out.
After a scoreless third inning, Pepperdine scored three in the top of the fourth, and then scored two more runs in the sixth inning to make it a 5-2 game.
The Islanders would fight back over the next two innings to tie the game at five a piece. Freshman
John Maldonado Jr. singled to left field in the first at bat of the seventh inning before Linneweber reached on an error, which advanced Maldonado Jr. to second. Freshman
Cole Modgling bunted for a base hit in the next plate appearance, which loaded the bases. Puls then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Maldonado Jr. and move Linneweber to third, making the score 5-3 in favor of Pepperdine. Markotic followed up with a sac fly of his own, bringing in Linneweber before a fly out ended the inning. Rivera-Chijin brought the game to a 5-5 tie by blasting a homer for the Islanders to right field.
Pepperdine would score the winning two runs in the top of the ninth. The two teams will face each other again tomorrow at Chapman Field at 2:00 p.m.
Stay Social
For more information on Islanders Baseball, follow the team on Twitter (
@IslandersBSB), Instagram (
@IslandersBSB) and like their Facebook page (
Islanders Baseball).
Â
#ShakasUpÂ
