CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Getting the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team just couldn't pull together the comeback to drop game one of the series 7-3 to Nicholls Thursday night at Chapman Field.
The Islanders (13-17, 2-2 SLC), in unusual fashion, got down early to Nicholls (18-10, 1-3 SLC) after the tone of the last four games had been the opposite for A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders got two back in the eighth and then battled with two-down in the ninth to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate, but the third pitcher of the inning was able to close it out to avoid the late shake-up.
"It was a tough night for us," said head coach
Scott Malone. "We're playing one of the best teams in the league, and their starter was really good from the jump. Both starters put zeros up and you're trying to see which team can break through first, and in the third they had their nine-hole guy break it with the double and all of a sudden, the top of the order came up and those guys strung some hits together early.
"We kept thinking, in this park, 'we're gonna get back, we're gonna get back,' and we just couldn't string it together enough to get going. It was still a good baseball game, we had the tying run on the plate at the end, but they were just better than us tonight," said Malone.
It didn't come without a career-night from junior
Chance Reisdorph who went 4-for-4 at the plate. He reached base in all five plate appearances after getting hit by pitch in his last at-bat which loaded the bases in the ninth.
He accounted for half of the team's total hits on the night, with junior
Isaac Webb being responsible for three himself while junior
Stephen Hom was the only other Islander to notch a hit against the Colonels. Hom drove in all three of A&M-Corpus Christi's runs.
The Colonels broke out of a two-inning pitcher's duel with a three-run outing in the third. The Islanders got one back in the fourth after senior
Sebastian Trinidad and junior Garret Gruell drew back-to-back walks before Reisdorph reached on an infield single to load the bases. Hom then took one to the arm for the hit-by-pitch RBI as Trinidad trotted home.
Nicholls added on in the next three straight innings to go up 7-1. Another pair of runs came for the Islanders in the eighth, with Reisdorph initiating the burst of momentum with the single through left. A fielding error advanced Reisdorph to third with junior
Logan Vaughan getting all the way to second before Hom stepped up and sent them both home following a base-hit to left.
Down 7-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Webb settled in for a single to shallow left center as Gruell remained disciplined for a walk to get two on. Reisdorph loaded the bases once more after getting nicked by the pitch and with the tying run heading to the plate, the Colonels made their third pitching change of the inning and this one proved the switch as the last batter was retired to escape a comeback.
"They're going to throw their best guy tomorrow. There's going to be 10 MLB scouts here tomorrow to watch their starter throwing 96 and 97, so it is going to be a battle and it is going to be uphill for us," said Malone.
The Islanders still lead Nicholls 30-16 all-time, and they face a familiar situation after going down in the series at UIW last weekend before battling back in games two and three for the series win.
Game two is set for Friday night at 6 p.m. back at Chapman Field.
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