Texas State baseball continues to show its fans and others why they are a force to be reckoned with in a 6-3 win over Sam Houston State on Friday.
The Bobcats entered Friday's game with a Top-40-ranking and a conference start of 3-0 after sweeping A&M Corpus Christi a few weeks ago. Tyler Sibley has been leading the way this season with an enormous presence at the plate, boasting a .431 batting average and getting on base every other plate appearance. However, the Sam Houston Bearkat bats and pitching staff remain a strong threat in the Southland and came to San Marcos hungry for some conference wins.
Taking the mound for Texas State was Pre-Season All-American junior Carson Smith. Smith came into Friday’s game with the teams second-lowest ERA and the most strikeouts. He has shown Head Coach Ty Harrington that the Friday games are his and his alone.
Sam Houston also sent their top dog to the mound on Friday. Matt Shelton pitched a solid game and held Bobcat batters at bay. Smith got off to a rough start, giving up two runs immediately in the top of the first inning. Greg Olson recorded his second triple, then scored as Ryan Mooney was safe off of an infield error. Kevin Miller was able to add to the lead with a single that scored Mooney to give Sam Houston a 2-0 lead.
Andrew Stumph put the first run on the board for the Bobcats with a solo homerun to left field in the bottom of the second inning, his second homer on the season, as he went 1-4 on the night. After three innings, the score was tied at two.
Then followed a pitchers’ dual.
Things didn’t pick up until the bottom of the seventh when outfielder Jeff McVaney popped a double down the left-field line to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead. Shelton was pulled and several Sam Houston pitchers got to see playing time. Sam Houston tacked a run on in the top of the eighth, ending Smith’s night. He finished his fourth start of the season with six strikeouts while giving up 12 hits in seven innings of work.
Fielding Pittman came in to relieve and earned his first win of the season. Pittman faced only two Bearkat batters before Texas State’s star reliever Joseph Dvorsky came into to pick up his fourth save.
Late in the game, Texas State needed to respond, and in the bottom of the eighth, shortstop Isaac Nuti smashed a two run double down the right field line. With score now at 5-3 in the Bobcats' favor, outfielder Bret Atwood brought home another run with a single that skipped though the left side. With that said, Dvorsky was poised for the save.
Sam Houston pitcher Michael Oros earned his first loss of the season with the late game rally by Texas State.
With the win, Texas State improves to 4-0 in Southland Conference games and 13-4 overall. The second game of the three game series will happen Saturday at 2:00 PM with the third and final game on Sunday at 1:00 PM. Catch both games at txstatebobcats.com.
Tyler Thomason, KTSW Sports
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