CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Keeping it toe to toe the whole way, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team just couldn't quite gain the edge over UTRGV in its home finale, falling just 4-3 Tuesday night at Chapman Field.
It was a busy night for the mound, as both teams threw at least six pitchers in the midweek tune-up and unfortunately, the Islanders (21-31) couldn't convert against the UTRGV (25-22) bullpen as the Vaqueros came away with the one-run edge.
However, the game doesn't count towards the South Texas Showdown, the rivalry between the two institutions, as the Islanders had already clinched this year's competition back in February after the Islanders beat UTRGV 2-1 in Edinburg.
"I didn't think we played great," said head coach
Scott Malone. "After the long break, you kind of hoped we'd come out and spin it like a top and play it fast and with confidence but part of that is UTRGV throwing some good arms at us. I thought our offense never really got comfortable and then I made the comment to the pitchers that we only scored two different innings and both times we scored, we went out and walked the next hitter which is not good baseball and is something we need to do better at."
Putting up a valiant effort was junior
Mason Persons who showed up and showed out in the final home game of the year for the Islanders, going a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in addition to scoring one of the runs.
Persons is the fifth Islander to record four hits in a game this year.
Also turning in a multi-hit night was junior
Issac Webb who went 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI to go along with his plate performance. It extends him to 21 multi-hit games on the year, the most on the team and the only Islander to have over 20 games with 2+ hits.
He started the night on a hot streak, drawing the lead-off walk before stealing twice on the base paths to get himself into scoring position in the first. Junior
Garrett Gruell then helped him out with that final 90 feet as he put the ball in play to score Webb for the early 1-0 lead.
UTRGV was able to answer back with a run in the second and in the fourth to reverse the score 2-1. Though, the fifth saw another reversal when junior
Logan Vaughan and Persons knocked back-to-back base hits for two on. Webb then pushed one through the right side as Vaughan headed home from second for the tie.
Senior
Sebastian Trinidad then made quick work in his at-bat, bunting it down the right to get Persons enough time to score on the sacrifice as the Islanders held the 3-2 lead.
While the two-run outing put the Islanders back on top, the Vaqueros would respond in the next frame with a pair of run themselves and held on through the final out to escape Corpus Christi with the 4-3 edge.
"Obviously, you want to win tonight, and you want to beat UTRGV, but you're thinking about how you want to play on the weekend and how you're going to play going into the next week. We're going to have to do a lot of things better than we did tonight so hopefully we'll get this thing turned around and get it going Thursday night," said Malone.
The Islanders will now look for some late momentum ahead of the SLC Tournament next week, fighting for a secured spot in the championships when they take on Southeastern this weekend in the final regular season matchups of the year. The three-game series will begin Thursday at 6 p.m. in Hammond.
Stay Social
For more information on Islanders Baseball, follow the team on Twitter (
@IslandersBSB), Instagram (
@IslandersBSB) and like their Facebook page (
Islanders Baseball).
#ShakasUp
