Islanders Drop Series Opener at Northwestern State

NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team fell to conference opponent Northwestern State 8-2 in the first game of the series at Brown-Stroud Field.

"Our goal of trying to get two out of three is still in front of us," said head coach Scott Malone. "They had a really good left-handed pitcher over there. We were about three plays away from it being a 3-3 game and it will take our A-game tomorrow to get them."

Freshman Zach Garcia earned his way to his second start on the season and pitched four innings, earning four strikeouts in the process. Senior Tyler Miller came in at the top of the fifth in relief of Garcia, going on to pitch 2.1 innings with a strikeout. Senior Cassius Shy, who made the start against Rice, came in for Miller with an out on the board in the bottom of the seventh.
 
After facing one batter, Shy would leave the game as freshman Marco Gutierrez came in. He also saw action in the Wednesday night 12-10 victory over Rice. Gutierrez finished out the inning, getting two outs before senior Daniel Nelson came out to pitch in the bottom of the eighth to finish the game for the Islanders.
 
Neither team scored in the first two innings of the game as the Islanders collected a hit as sophomore Brendan Ryan got on first with a single in the first. He advanced to second on a wild pitch shortly after before a groundout ended the inning. Garcia retired each batter in the bottom of the second to progress the game. The Demons went on to score in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.
 
Sophomore Nate White began digging into the lead by blasting a home run out to right field in the first at-bat of the inning. Junior Leo Markotic doubled to kick off the sixth inning, later making his way to home on a single by sophomore Josh Caraway. The bases were loaded off of a couple of walks before all three were stranded on a groundout. The next two innings remained silent for the Islanders as the Demons added five more runs to their lead, making the game 8-2.
 
Junior Leo Markotic and sophomore Nate White scored the two runs on the night with one apiece as six different Islanders collected as many hits. The team hit two extra-base hits with a double and home run on the night to extend its lead in the category in the Southland Conference.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi will face the Demons in game two of the series tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
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