CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team finally gets the 2026 season underway over the weekend, making its grand return to Chapman Field to square off against Stonehill College for the first time in program history
The Islanders get things started against the Skyhawks on Friday, with the Opening Day matchup currently scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The two will then play a doubleheader on Saturday that begins at 2 p.m. before returning to action again on Sunday for the series finale at 1 p.m.
A&M-Corpus Christi will be looking to improve upon its performance from the 2025 campaign, where it recorded 21 wins and earned a spot in the Southland Conference Baseball Championship for the sixth consecutive season dating back to 2019. The team earned a few signature wins over the course of last season, the most notable of which coming when it knocked off a UCLA team that would go on to finish fifth at the Men's College World Series in the opening game of the 2025 Kleberg Bank College Classic. The Islanders also managed to eliminate third-seeded Lamar from the conference tournament's Edinburg Bracket, which came after the Cardinals won 40 games during the regular season. The 2026 campaign will be the 19
th in the career of head coach
Scott Malone, who comes into the year with a program-leading 442 wins during his tenure at the helm.
The Islanders will return many different contributors on offense, bringing back six of their top nine leaders in hits from the 2025 campaign. Included in this is senior designated hitter
Jackson Smith, who led the team with an .881 OPS in 44 games and posted a 1.026 mark in conference play, which was good for seventh in all of the Southland. Also coming back are graduate
Austin Russell, who led all qualified hitters on the team with a .308 batting average while also being named to the SLC All-Defensive Team, and senior
Christian Smith-Johnson, who will enter his fourth season with the program to make him the longest-tenured position player on the roster.
On the mound, A&M-Corpus Christi will need to replace the production of
Zach Garcia, who ended his career in 2025 as the program's all-time leader in both games started and innings pitched. Junior
Preston Watkins will get the first crack at things on the bump on Friday as the starter on Opening Day to kick off his second year with the team, and he will be followed by juniors
Nathan Mueller and
Connor Schlect in Saturday's twin bill and returning sophomore
Bryson Shea reclaiming his Sunday rotation spot in the series finale.
The games on Friday and Sunday will be available to watch live on ESPN+ with
Steven King on the call.
Games 1-4 // A&M-Corpus Christi vs Stonehill
Dates: Friday, February 13 – Sunday, February 15
Times: 6 p.m. CT // 2 p.m. CT (DH) // 1 p.m. CT
Location: Chapman Field // Corpus Christi, TX
Watch Live:
Friday //
Sunday
Live Stats
Tickets:
Friday //
Saturday //
Sunday
Socials:
@IslandersBSB (IG) //
@IslandersBSB (X)
#ShakasUp
