CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Both the Northwestern State baseball team and its Texas A&M-Corpus Christi counterpart had one huge inning Sunday afternoon.
The homestanding Islanders were able to do more outside of that one big inning, rallying past the Demons for a Southland Conference series-clinching 14-9 victory at Chapman Field.
Texas-A&M Corpus Christi (9-15, 2-4) scored 12 times in the sixth through eighth innings, erasing what twice was a six-run Northwestern State (6-16, 2-4) lead.
NSU built the advantage with its highest-scoring inning of the season, a seven-run third inning that erased an early one-run deficit.
Hunter Uzzle's first career home run, a two-out grand slam to right field, punctuated an inning that included a bases-loaded hit by pitch and a bases-loaded walk.
Given an early cushion, Demons starter
Evan Tidwell cruised through the first five innings with an 8-2 lead. Tidwell retired the first batter of the Islanders sixth before Texas A&M-Corpus Christi did unto the Demons what the Demons did unto them in the third.
The Islanders paired six hits -- including a wind-aided infield single – with five walks in the inning, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs to take a 10-8 lead.
After not walking a batter for the first five innings, Tidwell and relievers
Austin Reich (0-1) and
Cole Langdon issued five free passes in the sixth, two of which were bases-loaded walks that snapped the tie and added onto the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi lead.
David Fry drew the Demons back within a run, connecting on a two-out, opposite-field solo home run in the seventh inning before the Islanders answered with an RBI double by Scott Balfantz (4-for-5, 4 RBIs).
The Demons brought the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs in the eighth before winning pitcher Chad Romere (1-0) escaped the jam with a strikeout.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi capped its three-inning surge by scoring three two-out runs in the eighth inning.
The Demons begin a five-game homestand Tuesday night when they host Lamar in a two-game midweek series. Both games are set for a 6 p.m. start.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 14, Northwestern State 9
NSU 007 010 100 – 9 10 1
AMCC 100 108 13x – 14 14 0
W – Chad Romere (1-0). L –
Austin Reich (0-1). 2B – NSU,
Regan Kaufman;
Matthew Alford. AMCC, Nick Anderson; Scott Balfantz. HR – NSU,
David Fry (7);
Hunter Uzzle (1). AMCC, Anderson (2). Highlights: NSU, Fry 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs; Uzzle GS, 4 RBIs; Kwanstan Adkins 2-4. AMCC, Anderson 2-3, 2B, HR, 3 RBIs; Brett Burner 2-4, 2 RBIs; Cam Boudreaux 2-4, 3 RBIs; Balfantz 4-5, 2B, 4 RBIs.
Records: Northwestern State 6-16, 2-4; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 9-15, 2-4.
