Late Comeback By UTSA Tops Islanders In Series Finale

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - After a hard-fought battle, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball (7-9) fell to UTSA (14-3) in the third game of the series 9-6 at Roadrunner Field Sunday afternoon.

"I thought Colin Purcell pitched really well today," said head coach Scott Malone. " I feel like he's one of the best three or four arms in the Southland right now."

A&M-Corpus Christi gave up one run in the bottom of the first inning, but wouldn't let the lead last long, plating three in the top of the third. Senior Brendan Ryan came to the plate with runners on first and second, proceeding to hit a triple to left field to give the Islanders the 2-1 advantage. On the next play, Ryan came home as junior Diego Johnson reached first on a fielding error. Johnson earned the first stolen base for either team shortly after to reach second.

In two consecutive innings after the third, the Islanders kept their offensive ways rolling with a run each in the fourth and fifth innings. Chance Reisdorph, a sophomore, scored for the blue and green on a sacrifice bunt with an out on the board in the fourth. Ryan found his way home for the second time Sunday as D. Johnson doubled down the right-field line. The Roadrunners scored once more in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 5-2 game after two shutout innings.

Chance Reisdorph helped carry the momentum in the top of the seventh as he reached home on a fielder's choice to earn senior Jake Johnson an RBI for the fourth consecutive scoring inning. After an inning of play, UTSA struck back in the bottom of the seventh with seven runs to take a 9-6 advantage.

Colin Purcell, a junior, pitched six complete innings on the mound after making the start, throwing 110 pitches on the day. He faced 26 batters, allowing only four hits and two runs in the performance for an ERA of 3.12 on the season. Classmate Evans Hendricks entered at the bottom of the seventh in relief of Purcell. Hendricks saw four batters as junior Samuel Feltz came in to record an out before classmate Austin Dean came in to close out the inning. Dean finished up the game with 1.2 innings under his belt, allowing only one hit.

The Islanders collected 11 hits throughout the game, one more than the Roadrunners. Ryan's triple early in the game was his fifth of the season to tie junior Tre Jones with the team-high mark.

Next up for A&M-Corpus Christi is a road trip to Edinburg, Texas to face UTRGV in the South Texas Showdown presented by Rally Credit Union Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m.

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