Texas A&M commit Blayne Lyne leads defending 3A state champion Corpus Christi London past Flour Bluff
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Fresh off capturing the Class 3A Texas high school baseball state championship and their second straight trip to the UIL state tournament, the Corpus Christi London Pirates picked up right where they left off during their season opener Monday.
The Pirates rose to the occasion during a pitchers' duel on the road against Class 5A playoff hopeful Corpus Christi Flour Bluff.
London used three pitchers to shut down the Hornets' bats, as the Pirates locked up a 1-0 road win to begin their state title defense Monday night.
Junior pitcher and Texas A&M Aggies commit Blayne Lyne earned the nod as Corpus Christi London's opening day starter and made the most of his opportunity.
Lyne tossed four scoreless innings to set the tone for the Pirates before sophomore Ethan Ortega and junior Blake Watters came in to close out the contest.
Ortega entered the game to start the fifth inning and was flawless in relief until he was later relieved by Watters, who recorded the last five outs on the mound after taking over with one out in the sixth.
The Pirates plated their lone run of the night during the top of the first inning on a lead-off triple by sophomore RJ Olivares, who came around to score on a line-drive single to right field by junior Jacob Gonzales.
Corpus Christi London (1-0) will head south looking to continue its hot start to the 2023 season when the Pirates play in the Port Isabel ISD Baseball Tournament from Thursday, Feb. 23, to Saturday, Feb. 25, in the Rio Grande Valley.
Flour Bluff (0-1) will look to get in the win column for the first time this year when the Hornets return to action against the Goliad Tigers (0-0) at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning in the opening game of the Sinton ISD Baseball Tournament.
Check out SBLive's exclusive photo gallery from the game:
PHOTO GALLERY — CORPUS CHRISTI LONDON 1, CORPUS CHRISTI FLOUR BLUFF 0
All photos by Blake Purcell
