DOWN GOES BAYLOR!

The Bobcats bite the Big XII again as they step up to the challenge to take out the #7 Baylor Bears 5-3 for the first time since 2005.

Bret Atwood, the second batter of the ball game, lined on down to left field. Baylor left fielder Adam Hornung dove and missed the ball and Atwood was off to the races. After his stand up triple, Paul Goldschmidt got the 132nd RBI of his Bobcat career. He is now only eight back from tying the career Texas State record for RBIs.

Young freshman pitcher Matt Steiner started the game for the Bobcats. You may remember he started the last game against the Bears only to be pulled before the end of the second inning. That wasn’t the case tonight. Working the outside corners to perfection he took Baylor out three-up-three-down with two strikeouts to end the first inning with the Bobcats up 1-0.

The Bobcats left two on in the top of the second and it looked like Matt Steiner was ready to leave the mound in a hurry; only this time in a good way. He struck out the first two batters of the bottom of the second inning to make that four strike outs with only five batters faced. Then he got himself in a bit of trouble. But any questions one might have had about the freshman pitcher were answered when he struck out his fifth batter of the day to work his way out of the second inning.

Tyler Sibley walked to the plate to start off the third inning with the Bobcats leading 1-0. He walked off the field a few moments later with the Bobcats leading 2-0 after a solo shot over the right field wall. It was a line drive shot that never reached higher than 20 feet off the ground for Sibley’s fourth homerun of the season. Texas State left two runners on base this inning to continue a theme from the entire game.

Steiner did his work again but so did the Bears pitching staff. It was still 2-0 Bobcats going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Steiner hit the first batter up and that was followed by a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Steiner stepped up to get two quick outs and looked like he was going to get out of the inning. Baylor catcher Brooks Kimmey then hit one to left field. Both runners came around to score. Spenser Dennis hit Jason Martinson, the cut off man, and when Kimmey ran to second expecting the throw home Martinson threw him out to end the inning. It was a brand new ball game after four innings all tied up at 2-2.

Texas State answered quickly in the top of the fifth. Atwood singled, stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. With two outs Keith Prestridge singled up the middle to score Atwood, then he advanced to second on a steal. A Ben Theriot single a few batters later brought him in from second and the Bobcats once again led by two.

Bryan Rutledge relieved Steiner and got Texas State through the fifth inning. In the bottom of the sixth the Bobcats once again stranded a runner on third base and this would be the third runner stranded on third base in just six innings

Tyler Brundridge came in for Rutledge and navigated the Bobcats through the sixth and seventh innings without allowing a run. In the top of the second Texas State added another run as Spenser Dennis crossed the plate after a single by Lance Loftin. In the bottom of the eighth inning Shaver Hansen hit a solo shot of Brundridge to make the score 5-3 in favor of the Cats.

The top of the ninth for the Bobcats stared out well but ended with stranding two runners on base again. The Bobcats would strand 12 runners all game. So the bottom of the ninth comes up and the Cats are still up by two.

Michael Russo comes to the mound as the closer and beams the first batter to put the winning run at the plate. Three outs to go and any swing can tie up the ball game against the Baylor Bears; who have 28 homeruns in 23 games. On top of that the Bears have won five games this year in the last at bat, so everyone knows they are clutch hitters. Ben Booker stepped in and shot one deep to center field. Atwood stood under it just a few yards in front of the warning track and got the first out of the last inning. Then Dan Evatt came in as a pinch hitter and fouled up a ball to Goldschmidt at first base for the second harmless out of the ninth inning. So when Landis Ware flew out to Kyle Livingstone who came in at second base in the ninth inning it was official. The Bobcats beat the number seven team in the country 5-3.

The fact that the first meeting was a 22-17 shoot out and the second meeting was a pitchers duel shows the quality of both of the teams play. It was a complete game for the Bobcats with five runs scored on eleven hits with no errors. This makes Texas State 2-2 against the Big XII this season. Next up for the Cats is an away series at Central Arkansas Friday through Sunday. You can catch Texas State back at home and on 89.9 KTSW next Tuesday against Houston Baptist. Pre-game starts at 6:15pm.

Dalton Sweat- KTSW Sports Staff Writer