CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In its first conference series win of the season, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball (16-21) defeated New Orleans (21-15) 7-5 in the rubber match Sunday afternoon at Chapman Field.
"The pitching was good all weekend and set the tempo and the offense was great today," said head coach
Scott Malone. "We poured it on them early, were disciplined and took the walks when they gave them."
New Orleans took an early lead in the first before the Islanders fought back in the second with four runs of their own. Junior
Jose Enriquez tied the game at one as he came home on a dash from second base.
Diego Johnson, a classmate to Enriquez, scored the go-ahead run run in the next at-bat. The scoring continued in the ensuing two at-bats as
Tre Jones (junior) and freshman
Christian Smith-Johnson came home.
In the bottom of the third, Enriquez scored his second run in the game as classmate
Sebastian Trinidad saw a ball go by for a walk. Within the fourth, A&M-Corpus Christi had senior
Brendan Ryan earn the sixth run of the game on a sacrifice bunt.
Both sides attacked in the fifth with a home run each, the latter coming from Jones, his second of the series to make it a 7-2 game. The Privateers would attempt a late comeback with three runs that fell just short.
Evans Hendricks (junior) made his second start of the season for the Islanders, fighting through 5.1 innings and striking out three in the outing. Redshirt junior
Jaime Ramirez Jr. relieved his teammate in the sixth for an inning's work before senior
Hayden Thomas closed out the game to earn his first career save.
"Making the transition from starter to bullpen isn't always easy," said Malone about Thomas. "He's always the first one to get here and do the little things and takes nothing for granted. It was great to see him get rewarded today as he went out and finished the game."
Each team collected 11 hits in the rubber match duel with the Islanders earning the lone double of the day and the Privateers the only triple. The two teams smacked three home runs out of the park with one coming from the blue and green.
The series win was the first for A&M-Corpus Christi since 2015 with the 2-1 victory.
A&M-Corpus Christi comes back to the diamond at Chapman Field Tuesday evening against UH-Victoria at 6 p.m.
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