Huntsville - First baseman Trey Hernandez blasted his 50th career home run over the left field fence with two outs in the firsts inning to power Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to a 5-1 Southland Conference baseball victory over Sam Houston Thursday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
Designated hitter Caleb Marz added a three-run home in the top of the ninth to seal the victory as the Islanders took the first contest in the final three-game weekend league series of the 2011 season for both teams.
A&M-Corpus Christi (32-22) got a stellar performance from Ian Campbell (8-4) on the mound as the right-hander struck out six Bearkats without giving up a walk.
Sam Houston (34-20) totaled seven hits with shortstop Braeden Riley leading the Kats at the plate with a 2-for-4 night.
Hernandez's first inning homer was his 11th of the season and scored left fielder Matt Holland who walked.
The Bearkats got one run back in the second inning on a single through the right side by first baseman Daniel Nottebart. The play scored shortstop Braeden Riley who led off the bottom of the second inning with a single up the right field line and was sacrificed to second base.
A one-out error put center fielder Chris Verne on first in the top of the ninth inning. Shortstop Weston Montgomery singled to the left side to set up Marz's three-run homer over the left field wall to put the Islanders up 5-1.
Sam Houston and TAMUCC meet in the second game of the series at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium. Bearkat head coach Mark Johnson, who is retiring at the end of the 2011 season, will be honored in special pregame ceremonies at 6:15 p.m.
