CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team was downed by Southeastern for the second consecutive day on Saturday evening, failing to capitalize on its scoring opportunities throughout the night and falling by a final score of 9-2 as a result.
A day after the Islanders (13-23, 5-12 SLC) and the Lions (28-7, 13-4 SLC) traded shots in the first inning of the series opener, it was the visitors who once again jumped onto the scoreboard first, striking for a run in the opening frame on a wild pitch thrown by senior starter
David Dean. This would be the precursor to the biggest frame of the night for either team, as Southeastern would then go on to pour in five runs in the top of the third, a rally punctuated by a two-run home run that chased Dean from the ballgame and made it a six-run deficit for A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Islanders would continue to sink deeper into this hole in the fifth, surrendering three more runs to the Lions on a trio of RBI singles to bring the score to 9-0, the largest lead of the day. The saving grace for the pitching staff ended up being junior
Nathan Darden, who entered the game as an injury replacement for junior
Braden LaRusso with one out in the sixth and ended up putting together his best outing of the year. Darden held Southeastern off the board for the rest of the evening in what was his first appearance on the mound in nearly a month, tossing 3.2 innings of scoreless ball while surrendering just two hits and two walks and striking out six hitters, a figure that doubled up his total of three for the entire season coming into play on Saturday.
While the Lions found their groove at the plate, the Islanders couldn't cash in on their many chances on the day, plating just a pair of runs in the ninth inning on a base hit by junior
Jackson Smith and a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior
Karson Krowka despite finishing things out with nine hits and eight walks. The main reason for this was their struggles with traffic on the basepaths, as they ended up stranding 14 runners on base in total, 11 of which came in scoring position. This included a stretch of three times in four frames where the team stranded multiple men in scoring position, leaving runners on second and third in both the third and the sixth innings and failing to take advantage of a bases loaded situation in the fourth.
The best day for A&M-Corpus Christi in the box came from senior
Trey Cruz, who went 2-5 with a double while also scoring one of the team's two runs. Senior
Austin Russell also recorded a multi-hit performance to raise his average on the season up to a team-leading .331, and sophomore
Jarrett Flaggert extended his hitting streak to nine games with a double in the fourth inning.
The Islanders will now try to avoid the sweep at the hands of Southeastern in the finale on Sunday afternoon, returning to Chapman Field for first pitch at 1 p.m.
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