CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball program fought its way to a blow out of Stephen F. Austin 9-4 at Chapman Field in game 2 of the series.
"Every game is a different story with different chapters and flow," said Malone. "Yesterday was a dog fight with both teams throwing punches back and forth. Today was all about [senior]
Leo Perez getting the first zero up and our guys putting up six on the board."
Only two Islanders saw action on the mound with Perez leading the way. He was in charge through the first six innings, and only allowed three earned runs while collecting five strikeouts. Freshman
Zach Garcia came in for relief in the seventh inning and finished the game off to collect his first save of the season. Garcia struck out a total of five batters over the three innings and didn't allow a single run.
After Perez put a zero on the board in the first, A&M-Corpus Christi went to work as sophomore
Brendan Ryan hit a solo home run in just the second Islander at bat of the day.
Diego Johnson, another sophomore, followed that up with a tripled, and then he scored on a groundout by fellow sophomore
Max Puls to give the Islanders an early 2-0 lead. Sophomore
Josh Caraway walked in the next at bat, and then advanced to third when senior
Steven Rivera-Chijin singled into right field. Rivera-Chijin proceeded to steal second during junior
Justin Taylor's at bat, in which he walked to load the bases. Sophomore
Brendan Ryan was up next and followed suit with a walk of his own, which brought Caraway home. Sophomore
Tyler Linneweber came up next and smashed a double out to left field to clear the bases and earn himself three RBIs. A groundout by junior
Leo Markotic would end the inning with the Islanders in the lead 6-0.
In the second, Johnson picked up right where he left off in the first by singling up the middle and advancing to second on an error by the pitcher. He took third on a fly out by Puls, but a pop-up ended the inning with him stranded there. The third was fairly quiet too as Taylor got on with a walk and advanced to second on a groundout by Petkoff, but he ended up stranded on base as well.
After a couple scoreless inning, everyone in the dugout wanted more, and put together a successful inning to do just that. Markotic walked to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and advanced to second when Ryan was hit by a pitch. Johnson came up to the plate next and singled, this time to the shortstop, to load the bases. Puls then struck out, bringing up Caraway who hit a sac fly out to center field, scoring Markotic on the play. Both Ryan and Johnson ended up stranded as a groundout ended the inning.
Danger loomed for the Lumberjacks in the bottom of the sixth as the Islanders would strike again. Puls got on with a single and advanced to second when Caraway was hit by a pitch. Both runners got into scoring position via a wild pitch in Rivera-Chijin's at bat, in which he ended up walking to load the bases yet again for A&M-Corpus Christi. Taylor came up next and drove a single into left field, scoring Caraway and Puls and extending the lead to 9-4. Rivera-Chijin and Taylor both advanced on a wild pitch during Petkoff's at bat, in which he was eventually walked. An out in the next at bat ended the inning. Ryan and Puls both added another hit to their totals in the next two innings, respectively.
Looking to tomorrow, Malone said, "I think everybody knows [junior]
Hayden Thomas drives the bus. Does it mean we win tomorrow? No, but does it mean we have a chance and I think everybody feels good about it."
Both teams will face off for the series victory at 1:00 p.m. Sunday at Chapman Field, sitting tied at a game a piece.
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