Ayala pitches Texas A&M-Corpus Christi over UIW

Freshman A.G. Ayala pitched the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders to a 4-3 victory Saturday over Incarnate Word at Chapman Field.

Ayala held visiting UIW to two runs on four hits in seven innings as A&M-Corpus Christi won its second game in a row in the Southland Conference series.

The Islanders will try for their first SLC series sweep of the season Sunday at 1 p.m.

Trailing by two runs, the Cardinals scored once off reliever Will Floyd in the eighth inning to trim the lead to 4-3.

But Cody LeCompte entered the game and got the last six outs for the save.

Tyler Miller was the hard-luck losing pitcher, throwing all eight innings for the Cardinals.

He gave up only two earned runs on seven hits and struck out nine.

Records

Incarnate Word 29-22, 13-13
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 26-26, 10-16

Series notes

With the loss, UIW will enter Sunday’s game in seventh place, one game ahead of eighth-place New Orleans, in the SLC race.

Eight teams qualify for the SLC postseason tournament.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is tied for 10th place, one game out of ninth and two games out of the eighth.

Both UIW and A&M-Corpus Christi have four SLC games remaining.

Team in transition

For the past four years, UIW has been ineligible for postseason play in the SLC because of its status as a team in transition to NCAA Division I.

This year, the Cardinals have moved past the transition, and would be eligible if they can just win some games down the stretch.

To complete the season schedule, they are scheduled to play three games at home next week with first-place Sam Houston State.