CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — For the better part of seven innings Tuesday night at Chapman Field, the second game of the South Texas Showdown between the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team and UTRGV looked a lot like the first game: solid pitching, timely hitting, few runs scored and the Islanders leading by one.
But then the eighth inning rolled around, and everything changed.
There was a misplayed fly ball that led to an inside-the-park home run, an error on an infield pop-up, three singles, two wild pitches and a stolen base. All with two outs. And it all resulted in four runs (three unearned) and a 5-2 loss for the Islanders.
"It's disappointing when you get that close," A&M-Corpus Christi coach Scott Malone said. "We take the field in the top of the eighth, and we get UTRGV on strikeout, strikeout, and we are now four outs away from winning a baseball game. We have the defensive misplay in left. Again, you know the kid was being aggressive, which we always talk about. If we make mistakes, let's make them aggressive. I just think when you're that close to finishing a win, he needs to play that ball safe and hold the hitter to a single."
Until then, the Islanders (9-10) were nursing a 2-1 lead, the same score in which they beat UTRGV (9-6) in Game 1 of the season series on Feb. 28. They also had freshman Kendall Dove on the mound, who was electric Sunday in earning his first career win against UTSA.
Dove was the fourth pitcher of the game for A&M-Corpus Christi, following Evans Hendricks, David Stuart and Joshua Flaugher. That trio was outstanding, combining to allow just one run on four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. The lone run came from UTRGV's Kade York, who hit the first pitch of the game over the wall in left field.
"I thought our pictures were really good," Malone said. "I thought those guys pitched well enough to win."
Prior to the fateful eighth inning, it looked as if A&M-Corpus Christi's fourth-inning outburst would be enough to get that win.
With one out, junior Garrett Gruell tripled to right-center for the Islanders' first hit of the game. He immediately came in to the tie the score 1-1 on Josh Blount's single up the middle.
On the very next pitch, senior Sebastian Trinidad – the recently-crowned Southland Conference Hitter of the Week – kept his hot streak alive with a missile to the wall in center field. His double brought Blount all the way around from first to give the Islanders their first lead of the game.
But that would be the extent of the A&M-Corpus Christi offense. The Islanders finished with seven hits – three coming in that fourth inning – but they stranded eight runners and struck out nine times against seven UTRGV pitchers.
"The bats have to be better tomorrow," Malone said. "We had a little traffic on the bases but didn't really get the big hit when we needed it. We need to be much better tomorrow. We have to make sure we can get a win on Wednesday night and then hit the road with some confidence against a good Dallas Baptist team."
The South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, is an annual rivalry series in which A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV compete against each other in 12 sports. The Islanders clinched the cup when the baseball team beat UTRGV in Game 1 of the series, 2-1 on Feb. 28, and after Tuesday's loss, now lead 36.5-20.5. There are just seven points still available in the 2023-24 competition.
The champion retains possession of the trophy until the following year's trophy presentation. The Islanders now lead the all-time series 6-2.