FRISCO, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team had two of its members earn postseason honors on Wednesday afternoon, as it was announced by the league office that seniors
Austin Russell and
Zach Garcia were voted onto the 2025 Southland Conference All-Defensive Team.
Russell, a native of Flower Mound, Texas, earned the honor at first base after recording a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage across his 44 games played. Russell was one of just four qualified players in the Southland to achieve this feat, and among those, his 348 total chances sit more than six times more than the next closest mark. In addition to this, he also recorded 13 assists and helped turn 18 double plays. This goes down as Russell's first conference honor as a member of the Islanders, having joined the program prior to this season.
Garcia, out of New Braunfels, Texas, made the All-Defensive Team as a pitcher. Like Russell, he also posted a perfect fielding percentage on the year, successfully converting on all 23 of his chances without making an error. He also tallied 18 assists in the field and recorded five putouts of his own. This marked the latest addition to Garcia's trophy cabinet during his four-year career with the Islanders, with the lefty starter also earning the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, SLC All-Conference Second Team and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American honors in 2022, Preseason All-SLC First Team honors in both 2023 and 2025, and a SLC Second-Team All-Academic nomination in 2024.
These are two guys that play really hard every time they're out there," said head coach
Scott Malone. "They are great leaders that have the respect of every player on our team as well as many coaches and players across the conference."
Russell, Garcia and the rest of the Islanders get back in action during the Southland Conference Baseball Championship on Thursday, starting their run in the tournament with a first-round showdown against No. 2 UTRGV in Edinburg at 6 p.m.
#ShakasUp
