AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team could not pull off the major upset in its midweek affair against No. 4 Texas on Tuesday afternoon, getting off to a roaring start but fading afterwards and dropping by a final score of 14-7.
Staring across the field at a national powerhouse, the Islanders (16-20) came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, hanging five runs on the Longhorns (28-7) in the top of the first to jump out to a commanding lead early on. The first two of these came before they even recorded their first out of the game, as after back-to-back singles by
Jayden Reynolds and
Cade Sanchez and a walk drawn by
Jackson Smith,
Jarrett Flaggert cashed them both in with a liner into center that plated both Reynolds and Sanchez.
Max Towchik then followed in identical fashion two batters later with a two-RBI single of his own, and to cap things off,
Austin Russell came through with a grounder through the right side that scored Towchik and made it a 5-0 ballgame.
After a Texas run in the bottom of the first, A&M-Corpus Christi then answered back in the top of the third, this time on one big swing from Flaggert. Leading off the frame, the third baseman jumped on a 2-2 fastball from Longhorns pitcher Kade Bing and smashed it into the seats in left center for a solo shot, giving the visitors their five-run lead back. This continued Flaggert's recent torrid stretch, giving him four home runs in eight at-bats dating back to Saturday against Southeastern after he didn't have any over his first 25 games of the season.
Unfortunately for the Islanders, though, the Longhorns found their stride at the plate, tying things up with four in the fourth and then taking their first lead off the day with three in the fifth before continuing to add on as the night progressed. At the same time, A&M-Corpus Christi lost the spark that it had earlier in the game, scoring just a lone run the rest of the night that came in the final frame when Flaggert tagged a two-out RBI double before the team's night came to an end just one batter later.
In the lineup, Flaggert led the way with another monster performance at the plate, finishing his day 4-5 with a home run, a double, four RBIs and two runs scored. This was just his second four-hit game as an Islander and his second four-RBI game after he accomplished the latter just three days ago, bringing his line over the last three games to a staggering 7-12 with four homers and 11 RBIs. Beyond him, Reynolds and Russell pieced together the other multi-hit efforts on the day with two singles apiece, while Towchik picked up the other multi-RBI showing with his knock in the first. On the mound,
Matthew Molina turned in a nice shift on short notice by going three full innings while surrendering just a pair of runs and striking out four, and
Luke Robertson worked a scoreless seventh in relief later on in the day.
The Islanders will now finally return home to Chapman Field for their next taste of action over the weekend, resuming conference play with a three-game series against McNeese starting on Friday at 7 p.m.
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