CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team came up just short in its pursuit of a ranked win on Tuesday evening, taking #25 UTSA down to the wire but ultimately falling by a final score of 7-5 at Chapman Field.
In their second game against a ranked opponent this season, the Islanders (8-5) put the Roadrunners (11-1) on the ropes early, striking for a three spot in the bottom of the first to take control from the jump. Senior
Jackson Smith got the early rally going with a double in the team's second at-bat of the night, and after advancing to third on a wild pitch, he would come around to score on a ground ball off the bat of graduate
Cade Sanchez that was misplayed by UTSA's first baseman, which allowed Sanchez to reach safely. In the very next plate appearance, junior
Isaiah Afework would add two more runs on one big swing, taking a 2-2 offering from starter Ryan Self and blasting it over the wall in dead center for his second home run of the year to give the team a 3-0 lead.
The score would end up staying at this mark for a good chunk of the game, thanks in large part to a nice effort from redshirt junior
Connor Schlect, who tossed three innings of scoreless ball while striking out two on an efficient 31 pitches. The righty would retire each of the first eight batters that he faced, and after this streak came to and end on a base hit by nine hitter Aidan Eshelman, he would get the next batter to ground out weakly to end his day in strong fashion.
The first signs of life for the Roadrunners' offense came in the middle portion of the contest, when they would first tie things up with three in the fifth inning and then take their first lead of the day with another two in the sixth. The Islanders would end up answering right back, however, matching this with two runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh to make it a tie ballgame once again. With senior
Christian Smith-Johnson and graduate
Austin Russell on first and second with one out via a single and a walk, the frame looked to be over when Smith chopped a grounder that appeared to be headed for a double play. The UTSA shortstop sent his throw wide of first base, though, allowing Smith-Johnson to come home while extending the inning further. Sanchez would capitalize next with an infield single, and right after, Afework came through again with one of his own that brought Smith in and leveled the score at five apiece.
The drama would continue to build after this, with the two heading into the ninth still knotted up with UTSA threatening with two runners on and two outs. In this situation, junior
Pierre-Luc Jacques managed to induce a promising ground ball, but a bad hop ended up causing the ball to bounce off the glove of a sliding Sanchez, allowing the Roadrunners to break the tie before then adding an insurance run on the very next batter. This put the Islanders in a two-run deficit heading into the bottom of the inning, and despite a single by Smith that put the tying run at the plate, they were unable to cash in and took home the defeat as a result.
A&M-Corpus Christi was led offensively by the middle of its order, with the 2-3-4 of Smith, Sanchez and Afework combining to go 6-15 with a homer, a double, four RBIs and four runs scored. Beyond Schlect, the team also got nice days from senior
Luke Singleton and junior
Chandler Fowler, who both tossed scoreless frames in the fourth and eighth innings respectively.
The Islanders will now try to get back on the positive side of the ledger when they kick off conference play over the weekend, welcoming Nicholls to town for a three-game series that starts on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
#ShakasUp
