BEAUMONT, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team could not take down Lamar in the second game of its weekend series on Saturday, going back and forth but ultimately getting downed by a final score of 12-6.
The loss ended a streak of two straight series victories for the Islanders (9-16, 1-7 SLC) over the Cardinals (18-7, 5-6 SLC), as they had previously won the sets between the two in both 2023 and 2024. The last sweep in the matchup came back in 2019 when Lamar won three straight games in Beaumont, a fate A&M-Corpus Christi will look to avoid in the finale on Sunday.
One day after the two teams played a prototypical pitchers' duel in the series opener, Saturday's game represented the exact opposite, with Lamar doubling up the combined run total from the day before by themselves with four in just the second inning alone. After a great first frame of work, the hosts jumped on Islanders starter
Bryson Shea, tallying three straight singles to lead things off and then bringing them all home over their next three plate appearances on a pair of sacrifice hits and another knock. Two more singles soon after would chase Shea from the game with the score sitting at 4-0, a larger disadvantage than A&M-Corpus Christi faced all of Friday night.
From here, the Islanders and Cardinals began to trade blows, starting with a response from the former in the top of the third. After a single by senior
Isaac Webb and a walk by senior
Austin Russell, the team got on the board for the first time in the series on a double right down the left field line by senior
Cade Sanchez and then added another immediately after on an RBI groundout from senior
Trey Cruz that deflected off of the pitcher and allowed Russell to come home. Lamar would respond quickly with a run in the third and two in the fourth to get the runs back and then some, but A&M-Corpus Christi answered right back with a four spot on its own in the sixth that got it back to within just one. The rally this time was started on an RBI infield single by junior
Christian Smith-Johnson, and it continued on a pair of fielder's choices from Webb and Russell, the latter of which plated two after an error and brought the score up to 7-6.
This jolt of energy would turn out to be the last of the game for the Islanders, though, with the team running out of gas down the stretch run. A&M-Corpus Christi's momentum was immediately dashed in the bottom half of the same inning when Lamar came back with three runs to put it right back into the hole it was in earlier, and after two more tallies in the seventh, it found itself trailing by a game-high six. At the same time, the team went cold with the bats, going down in order in both the seventh and the eighth and then stranding a pair of base runners in the final frame to go home with the loss.
The bulk of the production for the Islanders on offense came from the bottom of their order, as Smith-Johnson and freshman
Tristan Crane each went 2-4 in the No. 7 and 8 spots in the lineup to combine for four of the team's eight hits. The other knocks came from Webb, Russell, Sanchez and pinch hitter
Will Stark, with the first three also picking up an RBI apiece alongside Cruz. On the mound, the best effort came from sophomore
Matthew Molina, who worked 1.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts as the final pitcher of the day.
The Islanders will now try to salvage the series with a win in the finale on Sunday, with the action for the getaway game currently set to begin at 1 p.m.
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