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| Junior Michael Rockett tied UTSA's single-season record with his 23rd double on Saturday. |
ROBSTOWN ? Southpaw Roy Ferdin scattered seven hits over 7.2 strong innings and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi sent UTSA to its first back-to-back losses since March 20-21 with a 5-2 victory on Saturday at Fairgrounds Field.
The 5-foot-5 Ferdin needed just 74 pitches to limit the Roadrunners to two runs and was aided by 13 first-pitch outs. He walked two and struck out one in improving to 2-5 on the year. Right-hander Bryant Sparkman recorded the final four outs of the contest for his first save.
UTSA (33-14, 17-6 SLC) scored first for the second game in a row but was unable to hold the lead for very long.
Junior shortstop James Keithley led off the game with a single through the left side and was moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt off the bat of sophomore designated hitter Tim Palincsar. Junior center fielder Michael Rockett followed with an RBI double down the right-field line to give the Birds a 1-0 lead. The two-bagger was Rockett's 23rd of the campaign, tying the single-season record set by Trent Lockwood a year ago.
However, the Islanders (21-26, 13-10 SLC) responded for the second day in a row, this time plating a pair with two outs in the second. Bryan Gerondale led off the frame with a base hit to right and Ernie Olivarez followed with a single to left. UTSA starter Bradley Chovanec then struck out Adrian Salinas for the first out and a Paul Saville ground out to first moved the runners to second and third. Brycen Bell followed with a liner to left that brought home Gerondale and Olivarez.
Trey Hernandez' run-scoring single in the fifth extended the A&M-Corpus Christi advantage to 3-1 and the Islanders added a pair of insurance runs to in the seventh to push the edge to four.
UTSA pulled within three on Lockwood's RBI single through the rightside in the eighth, but that would be the closest the Roadrunners wouldget the rest of the way.
Chovanec (7-3) surrendered five runs on nine hits and walked three in 6.2 innings. Senior right-hander Mark Ruffin held the Islanders scoreless over the final inning-and-a-third.
Bell and Hernandez both had a pair of hits and two RBIs for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, while Lockwood went 2-for-4 to lead the Roadrunners offense.
The series concludes at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Lefty Kris Ruepke (4-2, 5.05 ERA) will oppose right-hander Justin Grota (1-0, 3.16 ERA).