Southeastern drops finale at A&M Corpus Christi in pitchers’ duel

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team dropped the series finale to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 3-1, Sunday in Southland Conference action at Chapman Field.

For the third time in the series, Southeastern (14-10, 2-1 SLC) took an early lead but this time was unable to hold on against the Islanders (12-13, 1-2 SLC).

A&M-Corpus Christi starting pitcher Zach Garcia struggled with control right out the gate, walking Rhett Rosevear to open up the game. After Tyler Finke reached on a fielder’s choice, Garcia walked Jake Killingsworth. Shea Thomas followed with an RBI single through the left side.

That was the only run and nearly the only offense the Lions would muster in the game. Garcia would walk six batters in his five-inning stint, but SLU was unable to push another runner across home plate.

Meanwhile, Southeastern starting pitcher Andrew Landry was sharp. The junior from Slidell, Louisiana retired the first eight batters he faced and did not surrender a hit until the fourth inning.

The hit, however, was a triple by third baseman Diego Johnson. He scored to tie the game when Islander cleanup hitter Tre Jones followed with an RBI single to center field.

Pitchers for both teams continued to deal for the next three innings.

A&M-Corpus Christi broke through in the eighth. Landry surrendered a leadoff single to ninth-place hitter Sebastian Trinidad and the Lions went to the bullpen left-hander Jackson Rodriguez. The first hitter he faced, Max Puls, delivered a single to right. A sacrifice fly plated Trinidad before the Islanders tacked on an insurance run.

In the ninth, the Lions loaded the bases with a walk and a pair of infield hits but stranded all three.

Islander reliever Jaime Ramirez Jr. (1-2) earned the win with three shutout innings of work. Austin Dean worked the ninth to earn his second save of the season. Landry (2-3) suffered the hard-luck loss, allowing just two runs in seven innings pitched.

Despite the loss, Southeastern is tied atop the Southland standings with Incarnate Word, Lamar and Nicholls after the first week of conference play. UIW (12-12, 2-1 SLC) travels to Hammond this coming weekend to face the Lions.

UP NEXT
Southeastern wraps up its five-game road trip with a non-conference game Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against South Alabama at Stanky Field in Mobile, Alabama. The matchup is the first of two this season against the Jaguars. SLU has won three of the last four games in the all-time series.