CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's baseball program earned a 12-5 victory over UTRGV in the South Texas Showdown at Chapman Field, revenging a loss earlier this season.
"It feels good to beat UTRGV and everyone is into it," said head coach
Scott Malone. "Everybody knows when we're playing them and in baseball they're very talented. I thought our guys played well from the get-go."
Senior
Steven Rivera-Chijin had the best performance on the tam, going three-for-five at the plate and coming home to score three times through the night. While not able to extend his lead in doubles in the conference, he did hit a triple in the performance, one of three Islanders to do so.
"I thought Rivera-Chijin had a great night and was on the barrel with a quality swing every single at-bat," praised Malone. "When he's at the top of the lineup and that consistent, he sets us up to have a good offense."
Sophomore
Josh Caraway was the second teammate to earn three runs in the victory, getting one hit while being walked and hit-by-pitch once as well. Caraway's lone hit was a triple with the third Islander to get one being freshman
Cole Modgling. Junior
Leo Markotic batted two-for-four while scoring twice and bringing in two RBIs as well. He had one other plate appearance in which he was walked. MAx Puls and
Justin Taylor, a sophomore and junior respectively, each came home once apiece.
The Islanders saw a variety of pitchers take over the mound with nine, getting started of by sophomore
Colin Purcell who celebrated his birthday by pitching three scoreless innings. During the time he only permitted one hit before another sophomore in
Sean Sieve came in for relief followed by senior
Henry Bird. The trio combined for five strikeouts through the first 4.1 innings.
Freshman
Zach Garcia, the normal Friday night starter, later came in to retire both batters he faced as fellow freshman Marco Gutirrez came in to kick off the next inning.
Clay Westbrook, yet another freshman, came in to relieve Gutirrez by earning two strikeouts as sophomore
Sebastian Mejia came in later, also earning two strikeouts. Sophomore Kennedy Parkl and senior
Cassius Shy tag-teamed the final six batters of the night to steer the Islanders toward victory.
A&M-Corpus Christi will play McNeese at home for a three-game conference series starting this Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Chapman Field.
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