A three-run home run by the Islanders in the second inning was all the margin the visitors needed as the bats fell silent for the Longhorns.
The season-long 10-homestand for the Texas Longhorns ended in ignominious fashion on Tuesday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field with a 4-1 loss to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders ahead of an important holiday weekend series against the No. 23 Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan that starts on Thursday.
Texas ended the homestand with a 6-4 record, including a series loss to Washington.
The fifth loss in 24 meetings with the Islanders ended a five-game winning streak in the series that dated back to 2019, the worst season under Longhorns head coach David Pierce. It was the first home loss for Texas against TAMUCC since 2016, the final season of legendary head coach Augie Garrido’s coaching career.
More concerning than the long-term trends in the series is the fact that Texas A&M-Corpus Christi entered the game with a 10-16 record overall and 2-6 mark on the road — it’s not a good baseball team.
But the Islanders were able to strike first as right fielder Cameron Smith-Johnson took advantage of a pitch up and out over the plate by Longhorns right-hander Cole Selvig and sent it into the visitor’s bullpen in left field for a three-run home run.
Right-hander Cody Howard, left-hander Luke Harrison, and right-hander Charlie Hurley combined to work three scoreless innings without allowing a hit as neither team scored again until Texas A&M-Corpus Christi made left-hander Chase Lummus pay for a lead-off walk when the runner advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a ground-rule double that also found its way into the bullpen in left field.
Over the final three innings, right-hander Andre Duplantier worked two innings without allowing a baserunner and right-hander Gage Boehm pitched around two two-out singles.
At the plate, the Longhorns were toothless for almost the entire game — in each of the first seven innings, the first two batters for Texas were retired, making it easier for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to avoid giving up any runs when first baseman Jared Thomas hit a triple in the third inning and left fielder Porter Brown hit a double in the fifth inning.
The Horns also stranded two runners in the sixth inning when right fielder Max Belyeu lined out to the second baseman after third baseman Peyton Powell hit a single and shortstop Jalin Flores was hit by a pitch before both players advanced on a wild pitch.
The only run scored by Texas came in the eighth inning when Thomas led off with a double down the right-field line and scored on a sacrifice fly by Powell.
By allowing only five hits and one walk to the Longhorns, the Islanders pitching staff lowered its batting average against four points to .273 and didn’t give up a home run, a relative rarity for a staff that has allowed 37 this season. On Sunday, Incarnate Word hit three home runs against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Stephen F. Austin hit seven in one game earlier this season. Texas batted .161 for the game, went 0-for-6 with runners on base, and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.