HAMMOND, La. – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's baseball team and Southeastern are slated to play in the second game of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at 6:00 p.m. Thursday night.
"They think they're going to win the whole pod and you need to get through that and overcome expectations," said head coach
Scott Malone about Southeastern. "We need to be good on the mound and on offense as well as defense. We need to play clean baseball, pitch strikes and put pressure on their offense."
Last year in the tournament, the Islanders went 1-2 in the tournament with a win over No. 5 Sam Houston State, but then back-to-back losses to both No. 1 Abilene Christian and Sam Houston State in a first-round rematch.
Within the conference, A&M-Corpus Christi earned ten wins, defeating UIW twice to start off conference play, and then later sweeping Nicholls at home. The team finished off the season with a victory over UIW to claim the seventh seed for the tournament.
Sophomore
Tre Jones has found a new confidence within conference play, leading the team with a .376 batting average and hitting seven of his ten home runs against conference opponents. His 1.261 OPS is a team-high as well to go along with his 24 RBIs. Jones was recently named to the Southland Conference First-Team as a designated hitter.
Brendan Ryan, a junior also being named to the SLC First-Team as an outfielder, has been a staple for the Islanders in the lineup. He broke the single-season record for stolen bases on the year by five despite having missed a large portion of time due to injury. Furthermore, he even managed to lead the team in batting average on the season at .345.
Senior
Steven Rivera-Chijin is one of nine Islanders looking at their final Southland Conference Tournament and will serve as a source of inspiration. While his average of .313 is fourth on the team, his 28 extra-base hits exceed others on the team, especially with doubles where he has 22 to lead the conference.
The winner of the 6:00 p.m. matchup will get a few more hours off, playing at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, while the loser will play at 1:00 p.m. Friday. All games of the tournament will be streamed on ESPN+.
Stay Social
For more information on Islanders Baseball, follow the team on Twitter (
@IslandersBSB), Instagram (
@IslandersBSB) and like their Facebook page (
Islanders Baseball).
#ShakasUp
