Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
`Jacks Dig Deep Hole In Loss To Islanders
4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 9, 2009
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Zach Gardner became the all-time stolen base leader at SFA and the Lumberjack offense scored at least eight runs for the fifth consecutive game, but the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders scored 10 runs in the first three innings before holding on for an 11-9 win on Thursday at Chapman Field.
Gardner's steal came in the third inning on a steal of third base, his 10th steal of the season, to pass Kai Kirby and Jeff Brewer on the all-time list at the school.
Brett Rogers threw 4.1 innings of solid relief for SFA (12-18, 5-10 SLC) to give the Lumberjack offense time to attempt a comeback, but TAMUCC (12-21, 4-12 SLC) scored five runs in the second off of Erik Gregersen and five more off of Ryan Priest in the third to make the mountain too high for SFA to climb.
Gregersen was tagged with his third consecutive loss to fall to 2-5on the year, allowing five runs on only a single hit in 2.0 innings of work. Brett Carnline evened his record at 3-3, allowing four runs in 5.0 innings.
Justin Long finished the day 3-for-5 and the top six hitters in the SFA lineup scored at least one run on the day. Tanner Hines was the only other SFA hitter with multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with a run scored.
Brian Ferguson extended his hit streak to 11 games early on, opening up the scoring with a hard line drive double down the left-field line that scored Sean Meyers all the way from first with two outs.
But the Islanders answered with five runs on only a single hit in the bottom of the second inning off of Gregersen. Two walks by the senior and a pair of hit batters brought in a run and loaded the bases with two outs, but it was Stephen Flora that put TAMUCC ahead 5-1 with what looked to be just a generic fly out to right field, but a strong coastal wind blowing in from the bay carried the ball over the right field fence for a grand slam. Flora finished the afternoon 3-for-4, just a triple away from the cycle.
Sean Meyers got a run back in the top of the third, driving in Gardner on a robbed home run by Jacob Perales in right field that went as a sacrifice fly. Gardner had made it to third after being hit by a pitch to lead off the game, getting to third on his 31st career stolen base that made him the all-time leader at SFA.
TAMUCC broke it open in the bottom of the third, getting five more runs off of SFA reliever Ryan Priest to take a 10-2 lead.
Justin Long picked up an RBI single in the top of the fourth to make it 10-3, and took advantage of two consecutive singles to lead off the fifth. Gardner and Tanner Hines each came in to score after reaching the corners, with Gardner scoring on a passed ball and Hines making it 10-5 on Meyers' second sacrifice fly of the day.
An RBI single from Perales in the sixth pushed the lead back to six runs for TAMUCC, but the `Jacks got back to striking distance in the top of the seventh. The `Jacks loaded the bases with just one out and Scott Malone elected to stick with Brett Gips to face Joe Staley, and Staley made him pay with a grand slam to right field.
It was Staley's fourth home run in his last seven games and the first grand slam by a Lumberjack since Kevin Crabtree did so on May 23, 2007, against McNeese State in the Southland Conference Tournament.
SFA then had a chance to tie the game in the ninth after Ferguson drew a leadoff walk, but Islander stopper Trey Hernandez struck out the next three hitters to close it out.
The Islanders and the `Jacks will resume their series on Friday with a 2:00 p.m. Roy Ferdin is scheduled to start for TAMUCC and Erich Lehmann is slated for the ball for SFA.
-SFA-
