CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In what may end up being a turning point in a season that was dangerously close to getting sideways, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team stood toe-to-toe with the baddest boys on the block and came away with a series victory over Lamar after a relatively easy 7-3 victory Sunday in the rubber match of their three-game series at Chapman Field.
Unlike the previous two games, which ended in 6-3 scores and came down to the final at-bat each day, Sunday's finale had far less drama.
The Islanders (19-25 overall, 7-8 Southland Conference) – who came into the weekend winners of just four games in the previous 13 – rode the momentum of Friday's walk-off grand slam, added in the crafty left arm of start
Zach Garcia, and tossed in an offense that attacked early and often to take the 2-1 series win.
Garcia was phenomenal, tossing seven innings on a career-high 118 pitches. He allowed just two runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts, five of which came looking thanks to a nasty curveball.
"I wanted to show my curve early today because I can get a lot of looks paired with a high fastball," said Garcia, who improved to 4-0 as his ERA fell to a team-best 3.98. "The only time I felt like I was struggling a little was early in the game in the stretch, but adjusting to it wasn't terrible."
The TAMU-CC offense never seemed to struggle.
The Islanders started early, as
Issac Webb quickly ran his hit streak to a career-high 13 games with a leadoff single in the first inning. After an out and a walk to
Garrett Gruell,
Chance Reisdorph singled to left to drive in Webb with the first run of the game. It was the Islanders' only lead of the series other than the bottom of the ninth in Game 1, when Webb walked it off with the grand slam.
TAMU-CC would lead plenty on Sunday.
Lamar (30-8, 9-3) showed why they've been the class of the conference thus far and achieved a top 25 rank in three separate polls, shrugging of the early deficit with a run in the second and another in the third to take a 2-1 lead. But the Islanders showed some class as well, taking back the lead for good in the bottom of the third.
Sebastian Trinidad singled up the middle on the first pitch he saw, then Gruell reached on an error as Trinidad went to third. After Reisdorph knocked in Trinidad with a sacrifice fly,
Christian Smith-Johnson had the first of his three hits on the day with a single through the left side.
A fly out moved both runners up, then
Stephen Hom moved them both in with a single to the gap in left-center. The three-run inning staked the Islanders to a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish.
"Pitching and defense wins, and we had some big hits today," TAMU-CC coach
Scott Malone said. "Stevie (Hom) might've had the biggest, but it's pitching and defense that sets the tone and just makes you feel like, man, this is gonna be a good game and we're one big hit away from getting after these guys."
Garcia took over from there.
The junior lefty retired 12 of the next 14 batters he faced, with the only baserunners coming on a harmless single in the sixth and an error in the seventh. Neither runner advanced past first.
"
Zach Garcia is really good," Malone said. "The best thing about Zach is he just competes. He competes at such a high level. He brings a lot of confidence to the mound. You can't teach that."
The Islanders got some insurance in fifth when
Cole Modgling drove in a run with an RBI groundout, and
Mason Persons drove in a run with a single to right that score
Josh Blount and made it 6-2.
Smith-Johnson provided the final nail in the seventh when he led off with a bomb to left-center field that easily cleared the fence for his fifth home run of the year. It was his first home run since March 26 against Texas, and it marked the third time in five conference series that the Islanders had multiple home runs in a three-game set.
Maddox Thornton replaced Garcia in the seventh in a non-save situation. He gave up a run in the eighth when the first two batters had a triple and a double, but he limited the damage to that one run.
The Islanders handed Lamar starter Hunter Hasseltine his first loss of the season. The junior lefty is now 4-1 after he gave up four runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk. He didn't record a strikeout and was pulled after just three innings.
The Islanders collected 11 hits against the best pitching staff in the conference and one of the best in the country. Smith-Johnson was 3-for-3 with a sacrifice and three runs scored, Blount celebrated his return to the starting lineup with a 2-for-4 day and a run scored, and Webb added a double to his first-inning single to finish 2-for-5 with a run.
It all added up to TAMU-CC's third conference series win of the season, and it marked the first time all season that Lamar has lost a series.
"It was a good weekend," Garcia said. "It was a very much-needed win for sure."
TAMUCC (19-25, 7-8 SLC)
Friday, April 19 – vs. Lamar, W (6-3)
Saturday, April 20 – vs. Lamar, L (6-3)
Sunday, April 21 – vs. Lamar, W (7-3)
On Deck: The Islanders will play a midweek game at Prairie View A&M at 2 p.m. Wednesday, followed by a three-game SLC series at New Orleans. The teams will play at 6:30 p.m., Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Home again: The Islanders will return home on Friday, May 3 to begin a three-game conference series with McNeese at Chapman Field. The teams will play at 6 p.m. Friday, May 3, at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 4 and at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 5.
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