CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Northwestern State baseball team had its opportunities to turn a six-game win streak into seven Saturday afternoon.
A pair of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi pitchers and the Islander defense had other ideas.
Gage Burdick turned in 4 1-3 strong innings of relief and the Islanders turned a pair of early-game double plays to give Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a 5-2 Southland Conference victory at Chapman Field.
"Two crooked numbers and not taking full advantage of our offensive opportunities was the difference," second-year head coach
Chris Bertrand said. "I thought we threw the baseball OK. We just followed up a tough ball on the replay with a hit batter, a walk and an error. The first crooked number was a little bit of a gift. The second crooked number, we made them earn it with four hits, but three of those four we had 0-2 or 1-2 and weren't able to execute a pitch to put somebody away."
The Demons (10-8, 4-4) saw the mirror image of what they did to the Islanders (8-12, 1-4) on Friday night happen to them in the game's early stages.
Despite stringing together eight hits off Islander starter Bryson Shea, Northwestern could not scratch a run off the freshman right-hander until the fifth inning.
Down 3-0 at that point, an errant Shea pickoff play at first base allowed
Balin Valentine to score Northwestern's first run before
Samuel Stephenson singled home
Rocco Gump to cut the lead to one.
The Islanders then turned to left-hander Gage Burdick (1-1), who retired
Daniel Burroway to end the fifth and keep the Islanders ahead by the slimmest of margins.
Buoyed by that, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi put together a two-out, fifth-inning rally against
Tyler Bryan (1-2) that answered the Demons' two-run fifth.
Bryan retired the first two hitters before Isaac Webb hooked a double down the third-base line. An RBI triple from Trey Cruz and Logan Vaughan's second RBI single of the day capped the inning.
"We have to learn how to clean up the crooked numbers," Bertrand said. "Then we have to take advantage of the offensive opportunities we do have."
That two-run inning and a three-run third were enough for the Islanders, whose third baseman Karson Krowka started a pair of 5-4-3 double plays that helped Shea navigate plenty of traffic on the bases.
Krowka's first double play came in the fourth inning and was an inning-ending, around-the-horn twin killing. An inning later, his second erased
Hudson Brignac's leadoff single and kept the Demons from adding to what became a two-run inning.
Northwestern stayed close because of a trio of relievers –
Caden Fiveash,
Corbin Talley and
Conner Bivins – who combined for 3 1-3 innings of shutout relief.
"I'm really proud of the competitiveness and the fight of the ball club," Bertrand said. "That's one thing we will always do. We will always fight from start to finish. In the game's critical moments, we have to get back to cleaning up the execution in those moments."
Stephenson and Burroway each had two hits as the Demons outhit the Islanders, 9-8. All nine of Northwestern's hits were singles.
The series concludes Sunday with a 1 p.m. matinee. Junior right-handedr
Trent Hillen (2-1, 4.87) starts for the Demons against a to-be-named Islander starter.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5, Northwestern State 2
NSU 000 020 000 – 2 9 1
AMCC 003 020 00x – 5 8 3
W – Gage Burdick (1-1). L –
Tyler Bryan (1-2). 2B – AMCC, Isaac Webb. 3B – AMCC, Trey Cruz. Highlights: NSU,
Samuel Stephenson 2-4, RBI;
Daniel Burroway 2-4. AMCC, Logan Vaughan 2-2, 2 RBIs.
Records: Northwestern State 10-8, 4-4; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 8-12, 1-4.
