CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (February 23, 2025) – Washington State had it's two-run seventh-inning lead slip away as Texas A&M – Corpus Christi rallied to hand the Cougars an 8-6 defeat in the final game of the Kleberg Bank Collegiate Classic at Whataburger Field Sunday afternoon.
WSU leadoff hitter
Max Hartman matched a career high with four hits, drove in three runs, scored twice and stole a base while freshman second baseman
Ollie Obenour added two hits and drove in three runs. Cougar starting pitcher
Luke Meyers allowed three first-inning runs but answered with four scoreless frames and gave way to the bullpen after the fifth inning with a 5-3 lead. Meyers struck out four over five innings,
Luke Thiele collected two hits and
Noah Thein scored twice.
WSU built a 6-3 lead in their half of the sixth before the Islanders scored once in the sixth, twice in the seventh and took the lead with a pair of unearned runs in the eighth.
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
Texas A&M – Corpus Christi jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first inning after three hits including a two-run homer. The Cougars answered right back with a four-run second frame with back-to-back two-out two-run singles to right field by
Max Hartman and
Ollie Obenour for a 4-3 advantage.
WSU picked up another run in the fourth as
Noah Thein pulled a single to right, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a perfectly-placed RBI-bunt single down the third base line for a 5-3 lead.
TAMCC put runners on second and third with out in the fourth by Meyers worked around the threat with a strikeout looking and a popout to Thein behind home plate.
Hartman was at it again in the sixth, turning a softly-hit ball into right-centerfield into a hustle double and Obenour lined the first pitch he saw the other way over a leaping second baseman for an RBI-single and a 6-3 Cougar lead.
TAMCC scored a run on a balk in the sixth before a two-out two-run double just inside the right field line tied the game at six. The Islanders took the lead with a pair of runs in the eighth after a pair of hits, a throwing error on a double steal allowed a run to score and TAMCC made it 8-6 with an RBI-squeeze bunt.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Max Hartman bunted the 1
st pitch of the game for a leadoff single
Hartman doubled in the 6
th for his fourth career 4-hit game
Ollie Obenour singled in the 6
th for his 1
st career multiple-hit game
Ricco Longo had his 4-game hitting streak snapped
NEXT UP
WSU will face the same Texas A&M – Corpus Christi team Monday in non-tournament competition with first pitch set for 11 a.m. (PT) / 1 p.m. (CT).
