Forty! Texas State Hits School Win Record With Laugher Over Lamar

It was a game that lasted for two days, starting on Thursday and ending early Friday morning. A late start caused by traditional Bobcat rivals Sam Houston State and University of Texas - San Antonio going into extra innings caused the final game of the day to start two hours late at 9 p.m. and it continued past midnight into Friday morning. However, that did not seem to phase a focused Bobcat baseball team as a six run third inning gave Texas State (40-14) the lead for good and brought home a 10-1 over the Lamar Cardinals in the second day of the SLC Conference Tournament.

The beginning of the game flashed by for both teams with a total of 15 batters coming to the plate in the first two innings and then the third inning came along. Jason Martinson started things off with a walk followed up by Tyler Sibley reaching base on an error to give the Cats two base runners with no outs. A trademark sacrifice by Bret Atwood moved the runners over and Lamar chose to issue Paul Goldschmidt his second intentional walk of the tournament loading the bases up with one out. It seems that Player and Hitter of the Year Goldschmidt has certainly earned the respect of the Southland Conference coaches.

To this point Texas State had the bases loaded without getting a hit. As well as the Bobcats were playing it seemed as if all the little things were naturally falling in their direction. The next five batters all recorded RBIs finished off by a double by Kyle Livingstone driving in the final two runs of the inning and the Bobcats took a 6-0 lead. Jason Martinson also pulled off a rare feat as he managed to draw two walks in the same inning though he was left stranded on base on the second go-around.

Speaking of walks, Goldschmidt took over the first place spot in Texas State history drawing the most walks in a single season with 52 up to this point in the season. From there Brian Borski took control on the mound. He may have walked six batters in the game with the lone run scored against him coming in the seventh inning after throwing over 110 pitches. The last two games the Bobcat starting pitchers have done their jobs collectively going 13 1/3 innings while only giving up three runs.

Once again Coach Harrington called on Tyler Brundridge to come into the game. Yesterday Brundridge closed out the final two innings without giving up a run. If you want to know how things have been going for the senior pitcher lately his next pitch tells it all. Inheriting runners on first and second with only one out Brundridge threw his first pitch. It was hit sharply to Lance Loftin at third base and quickly run around the horn for the double play. One pitch, two outs and the inning was over. He finished it out from there without allowing a run and that means that he has gone 4 2/3 innings in the tournament without giving up a run.

The 10-1 victory narrowly outdoes Wednesday's 9-2 victory over Stephen F. Austin and also notched the 40th win on the season for Texas State, a school record and a threshold that may have clinched at least an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament for the Cats. Tomorrow the Bobcats will play the winner of tomorrow’s noon game between the Lamar Cardinals and the University of Texas Arlington Mavericks. Texas State will tentatively play at 7 p.m. on Friday but as we have seen the game very well could be starting later in the night. No matter when it starts you can listen to it on KTSW 89.9, ktsw.net and txstatebobcats.com.

- Dalton Sweat and James McNeal, KTSW Sports Staff Writers