CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team could not secure a victory during its doubleheader against HCU on Saturday, coming close to earning the win in the first game of the series but falling late by a final score of 5-4 before then dropping the nightcap by a final of 15-4 in seven innings.
Game 1: HCU 5, A&M-Corpus Christi 4
The action on Saturday started about as well as the Islanders (22-24, 10-16 SLC) could have hoped, as the hosts managed to jump on the Huskies (21-24, 12-14 SLC) in the very first inning of the day for three runs to take control of the opener from the outset. This opening rally started immediately, with
Jayden Reynolds leading the game off with a walk and advancing to second on a
Karson Krowka sacrifice bunt, which set up
Jackson Smith to get the team on the board just three batters in with a single into right center. After a
Jarrett Flaggert hit-by-pitch,
Will Stark continued his top form as of late with a double down the left field line to bring in Smith, which was then followed by an RBI groundout from
Cade Sanchez to plate Flaggert and make it a 3-0 game.
This early offense helped to support
Chase Mayer on the mound, who came out for his fifth start of the season looking very sharp out of the gates. The lefty managed to sit down nine of the first 10 batters that he faced, allowing a lone walk in the first before stranding that runner and proceeding to go 1-2-3 in both the second and third during his first trip through HCU's order. Mayer's only trouble of his outing came in the middle innings when he surrendered a run in both the fourth and fifth innings before exiting with two outs in the latter frame due to injury, but he still finished his outing with a solid line, tossing 4.2 of two-run ball while allowing just two hits and striking out five.
Holding onto their slim advantage throughout Mayer's outing and beyond, the Islanders got a much-needed insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, coming when on a double steal from Reynolds and
Walker Freeman, HCU catcher Levi Castilleja tossed the ball into left field for an error that brought Reynolds another 90 feet across the basepaths to lift the score to 4-2. Unfortunately, though, this lead would not hold, as the Huskies got that run back in the eighth before then scoring two in the ninth to go out in front for the first time on the day. A&M-Corpus Christi did get its last time up in the bottom of the ninth, but it could not manage any traffic on the bases, going down in order to start the doubleheader with the tough loss.
Game 2: HCU 15, A&M-Corpus Christi 4 (F/7)
HCU would carry the momentum from the end of the first contest into the start of the second, kicking things off with a solo home run in the opening frame to go ahead three batters in just as A&M-Corpus Christi had earlier in the day. After this, though, the hosts punched back in quick fashion, getting this score back with a rally in the bottom of the second to level the score up once again. Stark first reached base in this inning with a walk, and after advancing to both second and third on two different wild pitches in the same at-bat, he would then come all the way around to score on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of reigning SLC Hitter of the Week
Christian Smith-Johnson.
From here, the Huskies caught fire offensively, breaking this tie in the third and then exploding for an 11-run fourth that put A&M-Corpus Christi well behind the eight ball. After a few zeroes on their end following their first run, the Islanders made their first attempt at chipping away, plating two in the fifth on
Jack Bergstrom's first home run of the year followed by an RBI knock from Sanchez. They would then score another in the sixth on a run-scoring double from Smith-Johnson, but needing two in the seventh to avoid the early finish, they could not tack on more, getting two runners on but failing to cash in and seeing the game conclude in run-rule fashion.
The top performer across the two games ended up being Sanchez, who combined to go 3-8 with a double and two RBIs in his return to the field. This effort included a multi-hit showing in the first game, with the only other one on the day coming from Krowka with two knocks of his own in the nightcap. These two also had two of the five extra-base hits on Saturday, with the others going to Bergstrom, Smith-Johnson and Stark.
The Islanders will now try to salvage the series in the finale on Sunday, heading to the field for Senior Day at 2 p.m. needing a win to keep pace in the Southland Conference standings with the season winding down.
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