NEW ORLEANS – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team saw the curtain close on the 2026 season on Saturday evening, finishing things out with a 7-4 loss at the hands at New Orleans after taking a lead early on but failing to hold on as the night progressed.
The final game of the year for the Islanders (23-28, 11-19 SLC) saw them forced to play from behind for the third time in as many games against the Privateers (24-29, 13-17 SLC) over the weekend, falling behind 1-0 after a run from the hosts in the bottom of the second. This time around, though, it did not take them as long to answer back as it did in the first two contests, as once the third inning rolled around, they managed to put a pair on the board to snatch the lead for the first time on the day. This frame started with a leadoff walk drawn by
Jack Bergstrom, and after he advanced to second base on a wild pitch with two outs,
Isaiah Afework continued his nice return series with a knock through the left side of the infield to knot things back up. The outfielder then stole second right after, putting him in position to score the go-ahead run on a dropped third strike throwing error by the UNO catcher.
A&M-Corpus Christi would then add on another just one frame later, with this one coming courtesy of
Karson Krowka. Coming up to the plate with two outs, Krowka got a 1-0 pitch out over the heart of the plate and did not miss it, crushing a long fly ball over the wall in left field for a solo home run that increased the visitors' lead up to two. This was the shortstop's second homer of the season, with his first coming back on April 12 against Southeastern Louisiana after he did not have any in his first 87 games with the team spanning back to his arrival in 2024.
Like on Friday, however, the Islanders could not hold on to their advantage as the game progressed into the back half, surrendering six runs combined between the fourth and the seventh to fall back into a four-run hole. Their lone response to this scoring came on an RBI groundout by
Jarrett Flaggert in the bottom of the eighth to bring the score to 7-4, but they could not go any further, going down in order in the ninth to bring an end to the 2026 season.
In the finale, it was again Afework who had the best day at the plate, going 2-4 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. The only other hits on the day went to Krowka with his longball as well as Flaggert and
Cade Sanchez, while on the mound,
Kade Budd and
Luke Robertson combined to not allow any earned runs over the final 2.2 innings of the night.
Saturday marked the final games in the careers of 12 different Islanders that were honored last weekend on Senior Day, with that group consisting of Krowka, Sanchez, Robertson,
Christian Smith-Johnson,
Will Stark,
Austin Russell,
Pierre-Luc Jacques,
Connor Schlect,
Luke Singleton,
Jackson Smith,
Evan Chadwick and
Matthew Molina. With the conclusion of the season, Sanchez wraps things up as the current leader in the Southland Conference in batting average at .358, and Smith-Johnson ranks second in the conference in stolen bases with 22. This also ties Smith-Johnson for the second-most in a single season in program history and gives him 42 for his career with the team, which ranks third all-time for any A&M-Corpus Christi player.
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