Stephen F. Austin State University’s baseball team defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 13-9 on Apr. 3 at Chapman Field, securing a fourth Southland Conference series victory this season and improving to a 9-5 league record.
The result is significant as it matches both the overall and conference win totals from last season for Stephen F. Austin, highlighting progress for the team in road games and within conference play.
A seven-run first inning gave Stephen F. Austin an early advantage, with six hits and two walks contributing to the offensive surge. Key plays included consecutive run-scoring singles by Julian Swift and Mark Henning, a bases-clearing double from Josh Ibe, an RBI single by Coby DeJesus, and a sacrifice fly from Cermodrick Bland. Relief pitcher Elian Balmaceda entered in the sixth inning and finished out the contest, allowing three hits and two runs while striking out nine of fifteen batters faced—matching teammate Dylan Mulcahy’s season-high strikeout total.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi narrowed the deficit but could not overcome additional runs scored by Stephen F. Austin in later innings through doubles, sacrifice flies, passed balls, errors, and wild pitches. Five players recorded multiple hits for Stephen F. Austin; DeJesus led with three hits while Bland achieved his ninth multi-hit game of the season.
Postgame notes indicate that Stephen F. Austin has won four consecutive games and five of its last six contests overall. The team has also lost just one Southland Conference series in its past seven dating back to last season.
The series finale is scheduled for Saturday at Chapman Field with live coverage available on SFAjacks.com.
