Bobcats Atop SLC After Impressive 9-3 Win

Forget Purdue, forget Texas Tech, and yes, forget Baylor. This was, so far, the biggest win of the season for the Texas State baseball team. The Southeastern Louisiana Lions and the Bobcats came into tonight’s game with the knowledge that both teams had identical overall and conference records (20-10, 10-5 SLC) and were tied for first in the conference. The 9-3 win for the Cats at the end of nine innings likely left fans feeling joyful and a bit more confident going into the second game of the series tomorrow night.

Despite the sizable victory margin for the good guys, things weren’t always easy against a talented Lions team during the game. After an initial spurt of 2 runs in the first, the Bobcat offense stagnated and starting pitcher Kane Holbrooks repeatedly got himself into a situation that pitchers universally dread—the 2-out offensive barrage. As SLU tied up the game at 2-2 in the fourth, one could observe the hometown fans were somewhat perturbed by the sudden loss of momentum and that Texas State was on the edge of letting a promising start slip away.

However, the Bobcats got the spark they needed in the bottom of the 5th as the all-time career home run school record holder Paul Goldschmidt blasted a two-run homer to right center that landed out the outer edge of the equipment shack and probably traveled close to 420 feet.

After that, every aspect of the game went the Bobcats’ way. At least one run was scored in every following inning as Southeastern starting pitcher Ryan Boudreaux and every reliever the Lions tried to throw at Texas State was subsequently overwhelmed by the sheer relentlessness of Dennis, Prestridge and company.

Kane Holbrooks also got a second wind and proceeded to stymie the Lion hitters until the last out of the 9th inning, when relief pitcher Tyler Brundridge came in to assist the exhausted starter in clinching the win. While it spoiled what would have been a complete game for the senior out of Fort Worth, the Bobcat ace shouldn’t hang his head because his efforts reduced a Southeastern offense that was known for nickling-and-diming opponents via small-ball to a sputtering ground-out and pop-up machine.

A couple more individual accolades to give out: Sir Spencer finished 4 for 5 and had 2 rbi’s to bring his ludicrously high batting average back over .500 to a .506 mark, while Prestridge finished 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Bret Atwood, Jason Martinson, Kyle Livingstone, and Ben Theriot also finished with a run batted in. Also, Theriot made a highlight-reel play in the 3rd inning as he fully extended himself in the dirt to make a diving catch of a foul pop-up ball that practically hit the moon before it came down.

Texas State improves to 21-10, 11-5 SLC while SLU drops into a two-way tie for second in the SLC with UT-Arlington as their record adjusts to 20-11, 10-6 SLC. The current SLC leaders will look to guarantee a series victory over Southeastern Louisiana tomorrow at 6:30 pm at Bobcat Field. You can either listen to the game on txstatebobcats.com or if you're still in town during Easter weekend we invite you to come on out and support your Bobcats!

Will Butler- KTSW Sports Staff Writer