NEW ORLEANS – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team was unable to claim victory in the opener of its final series of the year against New Orleans on Friday evening, failing to heat up at the plate and getting taken down by a final score of 9-2.
The loss brought the Islanders (23-26, 11-17 SLC) even with the Privateers (22-29, 11-17 SLC) in the ninth spot in the Southland Conference standings, with both chasing HCU for the final spot in the conference tournament. Due to a Huskies loss to Lamar, their postseason hopes still remain alive, but they now must win each of the final two games to go along with two more HCU losses to qualify.
A&M-Corpus Christi was done in by a lack of offense, tallying five hits at the plate in total and just one over the final four innings of the game. The team was not without its chances early on, though, starting in the opening frame when a two-out double off the bat of
Jarrett Flaggert got its first runner into scoring position on the day. After being unable to capitalize on this chance, the visitors would get another with two down in the third when
Cade Sanchez singled and
Jackson Smith drew a well-earned seven-pitch walk, but they could not get their first run in at this point either, leaving them off the board through the first third of the evening.
While this was going on, the Islanders had trouble keeping UNO contained on the other side as well, surrendering two runs in the first and four in the second to fall behind in a 6-0 hole. Their response to this scoring finally came in the fifth, when they got their first sustained rally going with one out in the frame. This started with an error that allowed
Max Towchik to reach base first, a plate appearance that was then followed by a hit-by-pitch of Sanchez and another Smith walk to load the bases for Flaggert. Down in the count 1-2, Flaggert roped a bouncing ball right back up the middle, allowing both Towchik and Sanchez to score and cutting the deficit down to four.
This would be the closest that A&M-Corpus Christi would get the rest of the night, however, as the Privateers answered with a run in that same frame and then two more in the eighth to put the team right back behind the eight ball. Needing another response, the Islanders could not string anything together late, getting just a lone infield single from
Christian Smith-Johnson the rest of the way.
The entirety of the Islanders offense on the day came from a trio of players, starting with Flaggert, who went 2-4 with a double and the lone pair of RBIs. Beyond him, Smith-Johnson also picked up a pair of knocks and stole two bases to move him into sole possession of third place for a single season in program history with 21, and Sanchez picked up the remaining hit to keep his average at a Southland-leading .360. On the mound, the team got a solid effort from its bullpen, with
Pierre-Luc Jacques,
Kade Budd and
Jabe Schlehuber combining to toss six innings while allowing just a pair of earned runs and striking out six.
The Islanders will now try to keep their playoff aspirations alive in the second game of the set on Saturday, returning to Maestri Field on Friday for first pitch at 6:30 p.m.
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