LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team could not snap its current skid in the opening game of its road series against McNeese on Thursday evening, falling victim to a late push en route to an 8-5 defeat.
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Islanders (13-25, 5-14 SLC), which comes right after they had previously rattled off stretch of four wins in five games beforehand. It was also their sixth in the row in the matchup against the Cowboys (28-6, 15-4 SLC), with their last victory coming back on April 7, 2023, in Lake Charles.
To start things off in the three-game set, the two teams made it a priority to get out to the best start possible, with both striking right from the opening gun. The first run of the game was put on the board by the Islanders, as after a two-out double by sophomore
Jarrett Flaggert and a walk drawn by senior
Isaac Webb, senior
Drake Kerr cashed in by poking a ground ball just through the hole on the left side to bring in Flaggert and make it a 1-0 game. The Cowboys would answer back quickly, though, loading the bases against junior starter
Preston Watkins and leveling the score back up on an RBI fielder's choice. Watkins would limit the damage after this, picking up a big strikeout with two runners in scoring position to end the threat.
After a couple of zeroes put up by both starters, the same scenario would repeat itself, starting with a run in the top of the fourth by A&M-Corpus Christi. After a quick first out, back-to-back singles by Kerr and freshman
Tristan Crane and a hit-by-pitch from junior
Christian Smith-Johnson loaded the bases for senior
Chance Reisdorph, who worked an impressive at-bat ending in a walk that brought the go-ahead run in the easy way. Like before, however, McNeese would make sure this advantage wouldn't last long, scoring its second run on a wild pitch to bring the score to 2-2.
This would be the first of what would turn out to be a run of six unanswered runs by the Cowboys, with the Islanders bullpen falling victim to some control issues that allowed the hosts to take firm control of the game. The first of these came in the bottom of the fifth when after a pair of walks, a double into the gap scored both runners and gave McNeese its first lead of the day. The big damage would come in the sixth in the form of three runs on a sacrifice fly and another two-RBI double, and one more in the seventh on a bases loaded free pass increased the Islanders' deficit all the way up to six runs.
A&M-Corpus Christi did show some fight in the later innings, finally getting the bats going after running cold following the early back-and-forth. The team broke the stretch of unanswered runs in the eighth on a two-out base hit by senior
Austin Russell, and in the final frame, it brought things to within three on a two-run home run by junior
Jackson Smith, his third in just the last two games dating back to Sunday. This would be all that the Islanders could muster, though, as they went down in the very next plate appearance to put a cap on the tough loss.
The Islanders actually managed to outhit McNeese on Thursday, tallying 11 as opposed to just eight from their opponents. Where things went south were the other free baserunners that they gave up, as their pitchers issued 10 walks and hit three batters, a stark contrast to the three free passes that they drew on the other side. These enabled the Cowboys to string together rallies even without its best showing in the box, with six of their eight runs scoring directly from a walk or from runners that reached via the base on balls.
Leading the way at the plate for the Islanders was Kerr, who went 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Flaggert had the other multi-hit game for the team, going 2-5 with a double and a run scored, and Smith was the only player to drive in multiple runs courtesy of his big swing in the final frame.
The Islanders will now try to even up the series in the second game on Friday, returning for an afternoon showdown with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
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