EDINBURG, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team walked away from its series-opening game against UTRGV with a big win on Friday afternoon, exploding on offense early and taking home its first road victory of the season by a final score of 9-6.
After falling into a quick hole thanks to a run in the opening frame from the Vaqueros (13-13, 8-5 SLC), the Islanders (12-13, 2-7 SLC) answered back with an even better response two innings later, putting together a rally with one out in the third to jump out ahead for the first time on the day. Junior
Isaiah Afework would get things started to lead off the frame by crushing one off the wall in left field for a double, and two batters later, senior
Jackson Smith would trade places, one-hopping the fence in right for a booming two-bagger of his own to level up the score. After a walk to the next hitter, junior
Matt Evans kept the line moving with a sharp hit ball that was misplayed by the UTRGV first baseman to allow the go-ahead run to come across, and junior
Hunter Azemar would plate another right after with a sacrifice fly to bring the score up to 3-1.
A&M-Corpus Christi's offense would continue to pour it on after this, doubling its total from the previous inning with a six spot in the fourth and taking a commanding eight-run lead. Like the previous outburst, Afework was the one to open the scoring up, but this time he managed to clear the wall and then some with a runner on, crushing a 403-foot blast deep to left for his team-leading fourth homer of the season. After this, Evans drove in a pair of his own with a bouncer through the right side and would later go around to score himself on a wild pitch, and senior
Christian Smith-Johnson got in on the fun with a run-scoring single that brought the visitors up to nine runs on the day.
This offensive onslaught would provide a lot of support to junior
Easten Smith on the mound, who settled in nicely following the early hiccup. After walking the first hitter of the second inning, the Islanders' starter was nearly perfect over the next four frames, sitting down 12 of the next 13 hitters while striking out four and not allowing a runner to pass second base. The righty did run into some trouble to start the sixth and saw two of his runners come around after his departure, but junior
Nicho Crowley managed to limit the damage to just this to keep A&M-Corpus Christi's cushion intact.
Things would get even more interesting an inning later, as UTRGV scratched across three runs before the Islanders even recorded an out to cut the visitors' six-run lead in half while threatening for more. This brought junior
Chase Mayer out of the bullpen with the bases loaded looking to stop the bleeding, and he managed to do exactly that, first getting a line drive double play on his first batter to tally the first two outs on one pitch before then inducing a fly ball to right field to wriggle his way out of the jam without allowing any of his inherited runners to make their way across. The lefty would then take the game all the way to the finish line by himself, retiring six of the next seven batters to slam the door and earn his second save of the season.
The Islanders put together an incredibly well-rounded effort offensively on Friday, banging out their second-most hits in a game this year with 17 while seeing eight of the nine members of the lineup pick up at least one and six record two or more. Pacing the team in this category was junior
Jayden Reynolds, who went a perfect 4-4 to match graduate
Cade Sanchez's total from back on February 17 against Texas A&M as the most in a single game for any A&M-Corpus Christi player in 2026. Afework was next up with three knocks, finishing a triple shy of the cycle after doubling in the third and homering in the fourth, and Sanchez, Evans, Smith-Johnson and graduate
Karson Krowka rounded out the multi-hit performances with two each.
The Islanders will now take their first shot at securing the series victory in the middle game on Saturday, sending senior
Luke Singleton to the hill for first pitch at 6:30 p.m.
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