CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team could not open up its series against Stephen F. Austin with a win on Thursday afternoon, attempting to climb out of an early deficit but coming up short by a final score of 8-3.
The start to the weekend set between the Islanders (13-15, 3-9 SLC) and the Lumberjacks (17-14, 8-5 SLC) saw some great pitching on both sides, with reigning Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week
Chase Mayer battling SFA's Cody Templeton early on. The only damage done to either arm over the first half of the game came on a two-run home run from the Lumberjacks' Josh Ibe in the second, but aside from that, the two lefties were nearly spotless, trading zeroes in the first, third and fourth innings.
This cold start at the plate would come back to bite A&M-Corpus Christi once the game progressed to the middle frames, as SFA got itself rolling at the plate with three runs in the fifth on a blast from catcher Jhett Creel and one more in the sixth to increase its lead up to six. Facing an uphill battle, the Islanders got their first punch in once the bottom half of the sixth rolled, striking for two themselves on one big swing from junior
Jayden Reynolds. After a leadoff walk from junior
Hunter Azemar, Reynolds turned on an elevated heater on a 1-2 count and smashed it over the wall in right center for a two-run home run, bringing the team's deficit down to 6-2. Not only was this the California native's first longball of the season, but it also went down as his first extra-base hit of any kind, as each of his first 16 knocks of the year were all singles.
The momentum from Reynolds' shot did not last long, however, as the Lumberjacks went right back to work and put up a two spot of their own in the top of the seventh to put the hosts right back into their original six-run hole. The Islanders were able to get one of these runs back in the same frame on an RBI single by Azemar, but a double play two batters later cut this rally short, and they were unable to start another one in their final two times at the plate.
Even with the low scoring output, A&M-Corpus Christi still managed to hang 10 hits on the scoreboard on Thursday, doing so thanks to multi-hit performances from Azemar, graduates
Cade Sanchez and
Karson Krowka and senior
Jackson Smith. For Sanchez, his first knock of the day extended his current hitting streak up to 16 games, moving him into a four-way tie for the sixth-longest in program history. On the mound, junior
John Paul Buckner had the best day, working the team's final three innings while allowing just a lone earned run and striking out three batters.
The Islanders will now try to bounce back in the middle game of their set on Saturday, returning to Chapman Field with junior
Easten Smith on the bump for first pitch at 6 p.m.
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