EDINBURG, Texas – After successfully completing its mad dash toward the postseason, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team gets its run at the Southland Conference Championship started this week, beginning with a postseason edition of the South Texas Showdown against No. 2 UTRGV on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The seventh-seeded Islanders (20-29, 12-18 SLC) enter the dance for the sixth straight season, qualifying every year since 2019 aside from the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. This time around, they will be looking to take home their first win in the tournament since 2022, when they also went in at No. 7 and knocked off No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana on the road in Hammond in the opening round that year. Their most recent form should aid in this pursuit, as they come in having won six of their last nine games and outscoring their opponents 51-38 in that span.
The first matchup of the week for A&M-Corpus Christi comes against the Vaqueros (33-16, 22-8), who took two of the three games in the series between the two at Chapman Field at the end of March. Their most recent contest went the way of the Islanders, however, as the hosts managed to walk away with a 3-2 win in the finale of that set thanks to a walkoff double in the bottom of the ninth inning by junior
Christian Smith-Johnson.
After the opening game, the Islanders would then square off with either No. 3 Lamar (40-15, 20-10 SLC) or No. 6 Houston Christian (26-23, 17-13 SLC), with the matchup taking place on Friday at either 1 p.m. with a loss the day before or at 6 p.m. with a win. Both opponents provide a chance at revenge, as they were swept at the hands of the Cardinals back in March and dropped two of three to the Huskies in the penultimate series of the season.
Every game of the tournament can be watched live on ESPN+. The live stats for each will also be available to follow along as they happen.
First Round // No. 7 A&M-Corpus Christi at No. 2 UTRGV
Date: Thursday, May 16
Time: 6 p.m. CT
Location: UTRGV Baseball Stadium // Edinburg, TX
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