CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team could not get going with the bats in its series-opening game against Northwestern State on Friday evening, falling in shutout fashion by a final score of 5-0.
The loss was the third shutout defeat of the season for the Islanders (7-12, 0-4 SLC), with the most recent two coming in back-to-back games against Kansas on February 16 and 17. It was also their fourth loss in a row to begin Southland Conference play, as they opened up with a sweep at the hands of Nicholls last weekend.
After the Islanders started out hot in both of their previous games this week, it was their opponents that got things going quickly on Friday, with the Demons (10-7, 4-3 SLC) jumping on the scoreboard for a pair of runs in the first against senior
Zach Garcia. The damage for the visitors came in the form of a trio of doubles, the first two of which came from the first two hitters of the day to put A&M-Corpus Christi in a hole almost immediately. The next two-bagger would follow after a pair of outs, with this one going over the head of center fielder
Will Stark to make it 2-0 before the hosts even came up to bat for the first time.
This early trouble would be all that Garcia would run into for a while, however, as the lefty not only settled in but found his cruise control through the middle stages of the game. After the last double of the first inning, Garcia would proceed to retire the next 15 hitters that he faced, getting the last out of that frame to strand the runner and then sitting down the Demons in order in each of the next four before finally allowing a hit to third baseman Rocco Gump with two outs in the sixth. His night would come to an end in the seventh after an error in the field allowed Northwestern State to get back on the board, picking up a quality start by finishing six innings while allowing three earned runs on five hits and striking out four against just a lone walk.
Unfortunately for Garcia, he ended up being the tough luck losing pitcher once things were all said and done, as the Islanders were not able to provide him with any run support on the mound. The team did not struggle to get traffic on the basepaths, recording eight hits, three walks and a hit by pitch, but where they did falter was cashing in after the fact, as they ended up leaving 10 runners on base without bringing a single one in. The best chance for A&M-Corpus Christi came in the bottom of the fifth when seniors
Mason Persons and
Cade Sanchez and junior
Karson Krowka all reached on consecutive groundball base hits, but this rally was cut short before it even got off the ground, as senior
Trey Cruz would go on to hit a grounder of his own that ended up going into the books as an unconventional 3-2 double play.
The best performer at the plate for the Islanders ended up being Persons, who tallied three hits in his four plate appearances to make it five in total over his last two games. Sanchez was the only other player to record a multi-hit game, picking up a pair of singles and a walk out of the leadoff spot, while Krowka and junior
Jackson Smith each managed to reach base twice with a knock and a free pass each. On the mound, senior
David Dean impressed in relief of Garcia, working the final three innings of the game while allowing just one earned run on four hits and striking out four.
The Islanders will now try to end their four-game skid in conference play in the second game of the series on Saturday, sending freshman
Bryson Shea to the mound for first pitch at 2 p.m.
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