NEW ORLEANS – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team couldn't get the win it needed in its contest against New Orleans on Saturday evening, surrendering late after storming back and falling by a final score of 6-4.
 
With the loss, the Islanders (23-27, 11-18 SLC) were officially eliminated from postseason contention, falling 1.5 games behind eighth-seeded HCU with just one left played on Saturday. The last game of the season will now see them try to play spoiler, as they have a chance to bring the Privateers (23-29, 12-17 SLC) with them into the offseason with a win in the finale.
 
Looking to extend its postseason hopes another day, A&M-Corpus Christi found itself needing to do so in comeback fashion, giving up two runs in the opening frame and one in the fourth while starting out cold with its own bats to fall into a three-run hole. The team's climb back would finally get kicked off in the top of the fifth, getting going right away with a leadoff single from Isaiah Afework in his return to the lineup after nearly a month out due to injury and then a hit-by-pitch of Jayden Reynolds on an 0-2 count. Karson Krowka would then sacrifice bunt them both into scoring position, and after a strikeout in the next plate appearance put a second out in the board, Afework came racing home on a wild pitch to help the Islanders get on the board. Right after this, Cade Sanchez would tack on another, finding the grass in center for an RBI single that brought the score up to 3-2.
 
This would prove to be just the start at the plate for the Islanders, as they got going once again in the sixth when Will Stark reached with a base hit and Afework came through with a huge triple into right to bring home Stark and tie the game up at three apiece. Now in a brand new ballgame as the night reached its final stretch, they then took the lead in dramatic fashion in the seventh, doing so when Jack Bergstrom came up with one out and smashed an 0-1 pitch into left for a home run to put the team ahead for the first time on the day. This was just the catcher's second home run on the year in his 26^th game, coming at the perfect time to put the team just nine outs away from keeping its season alive.
 
Unfortunately, however, UNO came through with its own big swing in the bottom half of the same frame, getting a one-out, three-run blast to put A&M-Corpus Christi back behind by two. After a quiet eighth, the team took one last shot at another comeback in the final frame, starting a rally with one out after Reynolds singled and Krowka and Bergstrom reached on back-to-back walks to load the bases. A strikeout right after brought Jackson Smith up as the last chance with the tying run 180 feet away, but he could not get the hit he needed, scorching a line drive on the first pitch he saw but blasting it right at the shortstop to bring the game to a tough end.
 
The biggest day individually came from Afework, who in his first game back went 3-4 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored. Sanchez recorded the only other multi-hit performance by going 2-5 with an RBI out of the leadoff spot while playing first base for the first time on the year, while Bergstrom tallied the only other extra-base hit and RBI of the day with his clutch home run. On the mound, Connor Schlect came just one out away from a quality start after tossing 5.2 innings of three-run ball with a pair of punchouts, and Easten Smith picked up a rare four strikeout inning in the eighth.
 
The Islanders will now return back to Maestri Field for their last game of the season on Saturday, hitting the field one final time for first pitch at 2 p.m.
 
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