Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
`Jacks Even Series With Islanders
4/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 10, 2009
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Adam Bosley's pinch-hit single in the top of the seventh put the `Jacks on top and Richard Folmer moved into a tie for first place all-time after converting his 15th career save as SFA defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-3 on Friday at Chapman Field to even the series.
The win snapped a five game losing streak for SFA (13-18, 6-10 SLC) against the Islanders (12-22, 4-13 SLC) dating back to the first weekend of the 2008 season. It was also only the second time the `Jacks have won a game this season when scoring seven runs.
Erich Lehmann earned his first road win of the year, moving to 3-3 on the season with his second consecutive quality start. The senior fanned six Islanders with only a single walk in six innings of work, scattering six hits and allowing three runs.
Roy Ferdin took the loss for the Islanders, falling to 1-5 this season.
But it was the work of Lehmann and relievers Chris Court and Richard Folmer that kept the clamps on the Islanders after the third inning, allowing just a single hit to TAMUCC after Martin Parra's RBI single in the third. Following that hit, 15 consecutive Islanders were sat down by Lehmann and Court before Folmer tossed the final 1.1 innings for his sixth save of the season.
Folmer's save was his 15th of his career, which ties him with Kyle Standley for first all-time at SFA.
However, he would not have had that chance for the save had it not been for Bosley's clutch hit in the seventh inning. With the score tied 3-3, Bo Coffman led off the inning with a triple into the left-center field gap to put the go-ahead run at third with nobody out. After Joe Staley grounded out, Cardenas countered Scott Malone's move to go to the bullpen with right-hander Brandon Orr with the insertion of the left-handed Bosley. The redshirt junior then slapped a 2-1 pitch back up the middle to score Coffman and give SFA its first lead since the first inning.
That first inning lead came on Sean Meyers' RBI single, giving the `Jacks an early 1-0 advantage. But Lehmann was not sharp early on and gave the lead back to the Islanders on RBI hits from Weston Montgomery and Stephen Flora.
TAMUCC nearly added another run in the second inning after Brycen Bell led off with a solid double to get into scoring position. But Lehmann got the next two hitters out before Ernie Olivarez shot what looked to be a run-scoring single to right field in front of Coffman; however, Coffman fired a one-hop strike to the plate and Joe Staley blocked the dish to perfection to get Bell at home for the inning's final out and keeping the `Jacks down by just a single run.
That proved costly for the Islanders just two batters into the third inning, when Jeffrey Kello smashed a solo home run onto the crest of the berm that separates Oso Bay from Chapman Field in center field to knot the score at two apiece.
A pair of bloop hits in the bottom of the third put the Islanders back on top before the `Jacks tied it up again just one inning later on an RBI ground out from Justin Long.
By then, Lehmann had settled down enough to retire each of the next 10 hitters he faced before being lifted for Court to start the seventh inning. Court retired each of the next five hitters he saw before a single from Montgomery was enough to get Folmer to the hill for SFA. Folmer uncorked a pair of wild pitches to put Montgomery on third with the tying run, but Parra flied out harmlessly to center field to end the final threat TAMUCC would have.
Folmer then picked up a pair of strikeouts in the ninth, including fanning Bell for the final out with SLC home run leader Trey Herandez waiting on deck.
SFA and the Islanders wrap up their three-game series on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. Gulf Coast native Jared Schrom will get the start in the series finale, likely opposed by Andrew Toppert for TAMUCC.
The game can be heard live beginning at 12:45 p.m. on KSFA 860 AM with Ben Rikard on the mic.
-SFA-
