CORPUS CHRISTI - The Texas A&M - Corpus Christi Baseball team picked up a big midweek win on Tuesday night, notching a 7-3 win over former Southland Conference rival Texas State at Chapman Field.
The Islanders (4-5) got clutch hitting from the offense, and an even bigger pitching outing by Trevor Belicek (1-0), who picked up the win in relief for his first collegiate victory. The Bobcats (2-6) matched the home team in the hit column, but could not come up with key hits due to Texas A&M - Corpus Christi pitching.
Cody Stephens had a big day at the plate for the Islanders, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Jonathan Gonzales had a big two-RBI single in the opening inning to set the tone for the game.
The Islanders got on the board in the first inning, as Jordan Lee led off with a walk, and Stephens doubled down the left field line to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Gonzales followed with a big two-RBI single through the left side to make it an early 2-0 lead. Eric Weiss singled through the right side to move Gonzales to second, and a Kyle Danford came through with an RBI single up the middle to score Gonzales and stake his team to a 3-0 advantage.
The Bobcats would cut the lead to just one in the top of the third, getting two runs on a pair of hits, but Belicek came on to strikeout the final batter, leaving the bases loaded and the Islanders clinging to a one-run lead.
The home team responded in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring a pair of runs to extend the lead to 4-2 on two hits. Stafford Brantley reached with a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a Danford single through the left side and both runners moved up on a balk by Bobcats reliever Andrew Boes. Zach Taylor was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and was followed by a Lee single just inside the left field line to score Brantley while Danford and Taylor moved up a base. Stephens picked up an RBI on a groundout to the shortstop to score Danford and make it 5-2.
Texas State rallied for a run in the top of the seventh, getting to reliever Tyler Schnuriger with J.D. Stinnett reaching after getting hit by a pitch, and Cody Lovejoy and Garrett Mattledge followed with consecutive singles to plate Stinnett and make it a 5-3 game.
The score remained the same until the Islanders got fortunate on a two-out grounder by Gonzales, with the Texas State pitcher bobbling it before throwing it away for a pair of errors as Danford and Lee came around to score and make it a 7-3 game.
Jacob Dorris came on to strikeout the first two batters in the ninth, and then got a fly out to right field that ended the game.
Danford ended up with a two-hit performance, while Lee, Porras and Weiss each had one hit. Lee, and Danford also added an RBI apiece on the offensive side.
Next up for the Islanders will be a three-game set against Dallas Baptist this weekend at Chapman Field. Game times are set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and will round out with 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday.
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