HAMMOND, La. - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team defeated Southeastern 6-5 in a slugfest of a game to win their first game of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
"We're glad to get a win and the guys are walking out of here feeling like animals," said head coach
Scott Malone. "We're going to enjoy this for the next few hours and then it's on to New Orleans and one of the best offenses in the league."
Zach Garcia took to the mound to start the game just a couple of days after being named the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year. He stayed in the game for 6.1 innings, throwing 113 pitches in the performance, striking out four batters while only allowing three runs. In the seventh inning,
Sebastian Mejia, a sophomore, came in for relief, looking to close out the Islanders. He proceeded to pitch 2.2 innings, allowing two runs and striking out five en route to victory.
"Garcia pitched like the freshman of the year in the conference and he looked like it and earned it," continued Malone. "Mejia is a blood and guts guy and always believes in himself. He believed in himself, pitched like a bulldog and just kept going after it."
A&M-Corpus Christi kicked things off with a bang, scoring three runs in the first inning alone before shutting the Lions down in turn.
Steven Rivera-Chijin, a senior, scored first for the blue and green off of a groundout by sophomore
Diego Johnson. With one out on the board, fellow sophomore
Tre Jones took the plate and hit a ball out to left field for a double, bringing in junior
Brendan Ryan for the 2-0 lead and a runner in scoring position. Sophomore
Brandon Petkoff fulfilled his objective by hitting a single to bring Jones home for the third run of the game.
After a few silent innings, the Islanders picked back up the offensive momentum seeing Ryan score for the second time in the game off Jones' second double of the game, nearly repeating the first inning, but with Johnson on third. Johnson scored a play later when Petkoff reached on an error to extend the lead to 5-1. Jones later scored the last run of the game for A&M-Corpus Christi with a home run out to left field, giving the Islanders a 6-3 buffer headed into the bottom of the ninth.
Jones led the team with spectacular offense, collecting four hits in five at-bats with three doubles and a home run to score twice for A&M-Corpus Christi. Ryan continued to improve upon his stolen base record, adding another to his total to sit just short of perfect at 25-26. He was the second Islander to score multiple runs for the team in the victory. Sophomore
Josh Caraway filled in as a catcher and was hit twice when batting to break the Islanders' single-season record by one, sitting at 21 on the season.
A&M-Corpus Christi returns to the field on Friday at 6:00 p.m. to take on No. 4 seeded New Orleans, the winner of game one of the tournament at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
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