Privateers hold off Islanders for series-opening win

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Caleb Seroski nailed the door shut for his first save of the season as the New Orleans Privateers held off the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 5-4 on Thursday evening at Chapman Field.

LIGHTS OUT
Seroski was highly efficient, throwing 13 of his 16 pitches for strikes. He got Tristan Welch looking and Brandon Petkoff swinging. After a bloope single by Leo Markotic put the tying run aboard, Seroski came back to strike out Scott Hastings to put the finishing touches on the series opening win.

STRONG START
Brandon Mitchell got the ball and was hitting top gear early. Mitchell struck out four of his first six batters faced and did not give up a hit until a two-out single by Justin Taylor in the sixth inning. Mitchell struck out eight in seven innings.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The game was scoreless until the fifth inning. A one-out double by Darren Willis and a walk issued to Kasten Furr set the table for Pearce Howard who connected on the first pitch of the at-bat for a two-run double that put the Privateers up 2-0.

The Islanders had a fairly quick response with two out in the sixth. Three consecutive singles, the last of them by Mike Williams tied the game at 2-2.

New Orleans jumped ahead with a three-run eighth inning. A single and a walk to lead off the frame set the stage. After a KC Simonich sac bunt, Salo Iza lined a double to left that scored two runs. Travis Gober added a little more padding to the lead with an RBI single on a 1-2 count.

The Islanders got two back in the bottom of the frame on another two-out, two-run single by Williams. However, Matt Barthelemy rebounded to strike out Josh Caraway to finish off the frame.

HIGHLIGHTS
-New Orleans, who led the Southland in strikeouts coming into the weekend, recorded 13 more on the night.
-The win moved Blake Dean to 9-1 all-time against the Islanders. Coach Dean is also one win away from tying Randy Bush for fourth on the program’s all-time wins list.

NEXT UP
The series continues with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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