CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In what can best be described as a tune-up game, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team took out some frustrations on visiting University of Houston-Victoria on Wednesday night, pummeling the Jaguars 14-1 in a game stopped in the seventh inning because of the run-rule.
The Islanders (10-10) scored early, scored often, played spectacular defense and got outstanding effort on the mound from a quartet of pitchers. Leading the way was junior
Jack Hill, who got his first start as an Islander and was dominant.
Hill, who was scheduled to pitch just three innings, ruined that schedule with his dominance. Hill went four innings on just 48 pitches, allowing one hit, no runs, one walk and striking out four. He faced just one batter over the minimum thanks to a double play.
"It was a predetermined short outing bullpen day," A&M-Corpus Christi coach
Scott Malone said. "Everything was scripted. We were hoping to get a good three innings out of Jack, and he was really good at throwing a lot of strikes, so we extended him to a fourth. I'm big on strikes and tempo, it doesn't matter who we play, and I thought he did a great job early tonight with a lot of strikes and a lot of tempo. He was able to give our offense a lot of momentum."
That offense, as has been the case for the better part of the month, began with the hot of
Sebastian Trinidad.
With two outs and a runner at third, the reigning Southland Conference Hitter of the Week blasted a triple to right-center field on a full-count pitch to get the Islanders in the board.
"I thought
Sebastian Trinidad was the story again," Malone said. "We've got a runner on third with two outs in the first inning, and they have a chance to get out of it. And like he's done all season,
Sebastian Trinidad gets the two-out RBI hit. That gets that first run across, we get to exhale a little bit and just start playing the game. Obviously, we took over from there."
Obviously.
The Islanders basically sealed the game in the second inning, when they scored five times, four coming with two outs.
Christian Smith-Johnson got hit with the first pitch of the inning, then
Logan Vaughan walked on four pitches. A groundout brought in Johnson with the first run, then Issac Webb singled,
Drake Kerr singled in Webb,
Garrett Gruell singled, Trinidad walked, and then two runs came around on a passed ball.
The Islanders scored four more times on four more hits in the fifth inning to get to 10-0, then added four more runs yet again on four more hits in the sixth. That triggered the run-rule, which was agreed upon to be 12 runs after the seventh inning. The Jaguars (16-7) managed to get one run in the top of the seventh, but no more, ending the game.
"The second big thing is
Jared Harris making an appearance," Malone said of his backup catcher who singled on the only pitch he saw in the sixth inning. "He's an outstanding kid, an unbelievable ambassador of Islander baseball, and is stuck behind two really good, older catchers. So he shows up and works his tail off every day and basically runs the bullpen and tries to get better and work on his craft. We got the spot where we were able to get that kid in the game today, and you know this just means a lot to me. I like to see great kids get time on the field and get what they deserve. It was a super proud moment for me as a head coach."
All told, the Islanders matched their 14 runs with 14 hits. Five different players (
Josh Blount,
Mason Persons, Webb, Gruell and Smith-Johnson) had multiple hits, four different players (
Karson Krowka, Trinidad, Blount and Persons) had multiple RBIs, and five different players (Webb, Gruell. Blount, Smith-Johnson and Vaughan) scored multiple runs.
And if that wasn't enough, the Islanders also turned four double plays and stole four bases. It was exactly the kind of confidence-building win the Islanders needed as a date with a behemoth awaits.
A&M-Corpus Christi will face its toughest challenge of the year this Friday-Sunday when the Islanders travel to Dallas to face No. 13 Dallas Baptist.
"Dallas Baptist is going to be a monster," Malone said. "They're ranked in the top 15, top 20 in every poll. They're going to be super talented on the mound, super talented at the plate. We will have to play our 'A' game to have a chance to get after those guys. It'll be a great challenge for us as we head into the last weekend before conference play."
Up Next: The Islanders travel to Dallas to play a three-game series against perennial power and 13
th-ranked Dallas Baptist. Game 1 will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday, followed by games at 2 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The Patriots are 13-3 this season, with the only losses coming against No. 19 Indiana (9-7), San Diego (8-4) and No. 9 TCU (9-6). So far this season, Dallas Baptist has wins over Oklahoma (11-7), Oklahoma State (14-4), No. 15 Alabama (7-5, 12 inn.) and Baylor (8-5). DBU entered the week ranked in the Top 20 in all four major polls: No. 13 Perfect Game, No. 18 NCBWA, No. 19 D1Baseball, and No. 20 Baseball America.
Next Home Game: The Islanders will return to Chapman Field on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 19-20 to take on Northwestern of the Big Ten. Both games begin at 6 p.m.
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