TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (19-26, 7-8) VS. NEW ORLEANS (23-17, 8-4)
What: Southland Conference three-game series
When: Friday-Saturday, April 26-28
Where: Maestri Field, New Orleans
Times: 6:30 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. Sunday
TV: ESPN+
Live Stats: t.ly/4UlPf
All-time series: New Orleans leads 10-16.
Preseason predictions: TAMU-CC was picked to finish sixth in the conference; New Orleans was picked to finish third.
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2024 Standings
| SCHOOL |
SLC |
PCT. |
OVERALL |
HOME |
AWAY |
NEUTRAL |
STREAK |
| Lamar |
9-3 |
.750 |
31-8 |
18-2 |
8-6 |
5-0 |
W1 |
| Nicholls |
10-5 |
.667 |
27-16 |
16-7 |
10-9 |
1-0 |
L2 |
| New Orleans |
8-4 |
.667 |
23-17 |
18-8 |
5-8 |
0-1 |
L1 |
| UIW |
8-4 |
.667 |
23-16 |
16-5 |
7-11 |
0-0 |
L1 |
| A&M-Corpus Christi |
7-8 |
.467 |
19-26 |
10-15 |
7-10 |
2-1 |
L1 |
| Northwestern State |
6-9 |
.400 |
15-26 |
8-11 |
5-13 |
2-2 |
W1 |
| HCU |
6-9 |
.400 |
15-25 |
10-11 |
5-13 |
0-1 |
W2 |
| Southeastern |
3-9 |
.250 |
21-19 |
15-9 |
5-9 |
1-1 |
W2 |
| McNeese |
3-9 |
.250 |
19-20 |
15-8 |
4-12 |
0-0 |
W1 |
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Probable Pitching Matchups
Game 1 – TAMU-CC RHP
Matthew Watson (1-4, 4.18) vs. UNO LHP Colton Mercer (5-3, 3.37)
Game 2 – TAMU-CC RHP
Jack Hill (1-3, 4.93) vs. UNO RHP Grant Edwards (4-3, 5.05)
Game 3 – TAMU-CC LHP
Zach Garcia (4-0, 3.98) vs. UNO RHP Cortez Dennis (0-2, 6.64)
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Leading Off: A&M-Corpus Christi dropped a 10-8 road decision to Prairie View A&M on Wednesday. The Islanders had 15 hits – tied for their third-most this season – but they stranded 12 runners, were caught stealing three times and had one runner picked off base. … Prior to Wednesday, the Islanders took 2-of-3 game from SLC-leading Lamar.
Issac Webb hit a walk-off grand slam in the opener for a 6-3 win, then
Zach Garcia tossed seven strong innings in the finale to take a 7-3 victory. … TAMU-CC dropped the middle game 6-3, but the Islanders still were able to get the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning before running out of steam. … New Orleans lost a nonconference midweek game of its own, falling 10-3 to Jackson State on Tuesday. … Prior to that, the Privateers won 2-of-3 games against McNeese. UNO one the opener 6-5 and the finale 6-3. … The middle game was one of the wildest of the year. McNeese led 6-0 after half an inning and 9-3 after an inning and a half. UNO scored seven in the second to lead 10-9 and eventually went up 11-9. McNeese retook the lead with four in the fifth and eventually went up 17-11, but UNO scored six in the eighth to tie the game 17-17. McNeese then scored one in the ninth and held on for a 18-17 victory.
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Tale of the Tape – Southland Conference rank is in ( )
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| Islanders |
Offense |
Privateers |
| .280 (4th) |
Batting Average |
.295 (3rd) |
| 252 (6th) |
Runs |
308 (3rd) |
| 69 (4th) |
Doubles |
80 (3rd) |
| 13 (T3rd) |
Triples |
16 (1st) |
| 21 (9th) |
Home Runs |
51 (1st) |
| .385 (9th) |
Slugging % |
.489 (2nd) |
| 167 (7th) |
Walks |
227 (2nd) |
| 339 (7th) |
Strikeouts |
333 (5th) |
| .361 (7th) |
On-Base % |
.412 (2nd) |
| Islanders |
Pitching/Defense |
Privateers |
| 6.10 (5th) |
ERA |
6.07 (4th) |
| 434 (9th) |
Hits Allowed |
385 (5th) |
| 315 (8th) |
Runs Allowed |
258 (5th) |
| 187 (7th) |
Walks Allowed |
158 (3rd) |
| 333 (2nd) |
Strikeouts |
301 (5th) |
| .281 (4th) |
Batting Avg. Against |
.289 (7th) |
| 62 (8th) |
Errors |
42 (5th) |
| .962 (8th) |
Fielding % |
.970 (5th) |
| 33 (1st) |
Double Plays |
30 (2nd) |
The Matchup: The teams have split the past six games, with TAMU-CC winning the last two. The Privateers won the opener of their series at Chapman Field last season 7-6, but the Islanders came back to win the next two 5-3 and 7-5. … In the 5-3 win in the middle game, current Islanders catcher
Chance Reisdorph was 2-for-3, while current pitcher
Austin Dean struck out three in two innings to get his fourth save of the season. … In the last game between the two, the Islanders jumped out to a 7-2 lead after five innings before holding on to win 7-5.
Evans Hendricks went 5.1 innings to get the win,
Christian Smith-Johnson was 2-for-4 with a run scored, and
Sebastian Trinidad drove in a pair of runs. … The teams first played in 2014, with the Islanders winning the first four matchups and five of the first six. ... After taking 2-of-3 games from Lamar last weekend, the Islanders moved up to fifth place in the conference and are just two games behind the Privateers for third place and three games behind Nicholls for second.
Eyeing the Islanders: Issac Webb ran his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games Wednesday against PVAM with a huge 4-for-6 day, raising his average to .364 and giving him a team-high 19 games with multiple hits. He also stole is 15th base of the year, which is the second-most in the SLC. … Webb leads the conference and is tied for fourth nationally in hits with 68. … Webb wasn't alone Wednesday, as
Stephen Hom went 3-for-4 with a double – which nearly left the yard for a three-run home run – and two RBIs, and
Cole Modgling went 3-for-4 with an RBI. …
Sebastian Trinidad went 1-for-3 with two RBIs, increasing his on-base streak to 11 games, and
Christian Smith-Johnson ran his hit streak to six games with a 1-for-3 day and two runs scored. … Junior
Jack Hill, who is the likely starter for the Saturday game, pitched his way into the weekend rotation by allowing just three earned runs over his last six appearance, all of which came against Houston Christian on April 12. In his last appearance Saturday against Lamar, Hill came on in relief in the third inning and allowed one unearned run on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He threw a career-high 100 pitches, which were more than the number of pitches he had thrown in his previous five games combined.
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Say What? TAMU-CC coach
Scott Malone: "New Orleans is always good, and they are always good at home. This year is no different. The key for us is pitching and defense. We need to perform well and keep the scores lower. We have had the knack for timely and clutch hitting, and we will need some big ones again this weekend."
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Scouting Lamar: UNO head coach Blake Dean, in his ninth season with the Privateers, is just two wins away from 250 career wins. … Leadoff hitter Victor Castillo is sixth in the nation with a .557 on-base percentage. He's second in the conference with 40 walks, and he's second on the team with 41 runs. … UNO has stolen home twice this season after executing a double steal on April 13 against Bluefield State. Diego Villescas stole home on that occasion. Mitchell Sanford has the other steal of home this season against Memphis. … Sanford might be the leading candidate for conference hitter of the year. The right fielder leads the conference in home runs (14), RBIs (58), doubles (17), slugging percentage (.836), OPS (1.317) and is second in triples (4). He's currently on a 10-game hitting streak. … Sanford has 17 multi-RBI games. He has driven in five or more runs three times this season. He also has 20 multi-hit games with three four-hit games. … The Privateers have 10 run-rule victories this season. They have scored in double figures 16 times, with a high of 26 in a 26-6 win over Bluefield State. … The Privateers have also given up double figures in runs 10 times, with a high of 18 twice (an 18-4 loss to Evansville and the 18-17 loss to McNeese). All 18 runs each time were earned. … Catcher Miguel Useche has reached base in 30 consecutive games. … UNO is tied for 15th nationally with 16 triples (TAMU-CC is tied for 34th with 13). … Pitchers Colton Mercer and Grant Edwards have been the top two pitchers in the weekend rotation for UNO all season, but the third has been a question mark. The Privateers have used four different options in the third spot, with Caleb Seroski, Chris Olivier, Cortez Dennis and Bryce Calloway all getting a look.
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TAMUCC (19-26, 7-8 SLC)
Friday, April 26 – vs. New Orleans (23-17, 8-4), 6:30 p.m., Maestri Field, New Orleans
Saturday, April 27 – vs. New Orleans (23-17, 8-4), 2 p.m., Maestri Field, New Orleans
Sunday, April 28 – vs. New Orleans (23-17, 8-4), 1 p.m., Maestri Field, New Orleans
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On Deck: After the series in New Orleans, 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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