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Islanders baseball powered by big 2nd inning

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored five runs in the 2nd inning en-route to a 9-3 win over UT-Arlington.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi baseball program (2-0, 0-0 Southland) managed to compose a strong offensive showing in game two against UT-Arlington (0-2, 0-0 Sun Belt), upending the Mavericks for the 9-3 victory Saturday evening at Chapman Field. Despite UTA jumping out to a quick 1-0 advantage in the first inning, the Islanders battled back with five runs in the second, one in both the third and fifth frames and two more in the sixth, locking down an undefeated 2-0 start.

KEY INNINGS
Top | 1st

- The Mavericks worked their way onto the board first as Miller pushed Aube across home plate with a RBI groundout.

Bottom | 2nd
- Texas A&M-Corpus Chrsiti responded quickly to open the second frame, setting up juniors Drake Osborn (third) and Mike Williams (second) in scoring position. Sophomore Steven Rivera-Chijin managed to grant the Islanders a lead they would never surrender the ensuing at-bat, slicing a single into center field to plate both as the Blue & Green notched a 2-1 advantage.
- A pair of doubles -- first from junior Itchy Burts followed by another from senior Enrique Sanchez Jr. -- added two more runs for the Islanders. 
- After Joey Werner advanced Sanchez to third on a groundout to first, senior Nick Anderson wrapped up the inning with a single through the left side, scoring Sanchez and pushing the lead out to 5-1.

Top | 3rd
- After Aube set himself up at second with a double, Cook closed the gap to three runs with a single into right field.

Bottom | 3rd
- Following the Islanders' third double of the day, this time from Osborn, Rivera-Chijin sent the junior home with a single into shallow center field, re-extending the lead back to four.

Bottom | 5th
- Senior Thomas Jeffries IV opened the frame with a well-hit single into right field before proceeding to work his way around to third on an attempted steal-turned error from the Mavericks.
- A sacrifice fly from Williams on the same at-bat sent the designated hitter home, securing a 7-2 edge to close the fifth inning.

Bottom | 6th
- Despite the solid five-run lead holding up, the Islanders notched two more behind four consecutive singles to open the bottom of the sixth frame. Rivera-Chijin and Burts got things going initially, railing pitches into the outfield, before Sanchez and Werner knocked in one apiece on the ensuing at-bats.

Top | 8th
- Miller posted his second RBI of the day as he homered over the right field wall to open the eighth inning.

ON THE MOUND
- Sophomore Leo Perez received his first start of the season, striking out three while surrendering two runs across 4.0 innings of work.
- Senior Chad Romere (1-0) filled in for the sophomore in the fifth frame, giving up just one hit and no runs with three strikeouts of his own through 3.0 frames of action.
- A trio of relievers -- senior Tate Gillespie along with freshmen Luke Malone and Steven Vejil -- wrapped up the final two innings for the Islanders, allowing four combined hits and one run with two total strikeouts. For both Malone and Vejil, today's win will serve as their collegiate debuts on the diamond.

COMING UP NEXT
After opening the season with a pair of victories, the Islanders look to copy-paste that success to the final two games of the series with UT-Arlington, facing the Mavericks on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m.

STAY SOCIAL
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