Islanders Tie Program Record Runs Scored In 24-3 Routing of Harvard

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - In a record-tying performance, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's baseball program (9-9) defeated Harvard (1-12) in a 24-3 run-rule victory at Chapman Field Thursday night. The 24 runs are the most scored in school history since 2007 when they scored 24 against Grambling State.

"We had a good night," said head coach Scott Malone about the record-tying performance. "We kept putting pressure on their guys and had quality at-bats early, even when we weren't scoring to create traffic on the bases."

The Islanders let up two runs in the top of the inning for an early deficit, but struck back quickly with a run of their own in the bottom of the first, followed by two more in the second inning to take a 3-2 lead. As senior Hayden Thomas went to work on the mound to put up zeroes for four consecutive innings, the batters added 12 more runs to the tally with seven in the fourth and five in the fifth. Harvard earned another run in the sixth with a solo shot to right field before the Islanders scored the last nine runs of the game.

Leading the way in scoring for the blue and green were true freshman Christian Smith-Johnson and sophomore Chance Reisdorph with both garnering four runs in the performance. Smith-Johnson earned two hits and a walk while Reisdorph earned three hits and a walk as well.

Along with the former two, senior Leo Markotic and junior Diego Johnson scored thrice on the night. Markotic smacked his second triple of the season out to center field to extend the team's national lead to 17 in the 2023 campaign. Both batters wore a .500 batting average on the night with a combined five hits.

Also scoring for the Islanders with two runs each were senior Jake Johnson, junior Josh Caraway, and junior Jose Enriquez. With one run on the night, juniors Tyler Linneweber, Sebastian Trinidad, Tre Jones and senior Brendan Ryan all made their way to the plate.

Ryan led the team with five runs batted in with Trinidad and Markotic just behind him with three each. The team earned a collective 20 on the night off of 19 hits and eight walks.

Senior Hayden Thomas had a performance on the mound where he struck out 10 batters of the 25 he faced, marking the second time he has done that this season while making the start. Out of the batters he faced, Thomas only allowed four hits on the night through 96 pitches. Samuel Feltz, a junior, faced six batters in one inning to close out the game.

"I thought Hayden and all the pitchers take pride in doing everything together and having each other's back," continued Malone. "I thought it was an unbelievable night for our pitchers the way the field was playing and the wind was blowing."

A&M-Corpus Christi returns to action at Chapman Field Friday evening at 7 p.m. in game two of the series against the Crimson.

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