LAFAYETTE, La. – Dalton Shuffield and Jaylen Hubbard drove in two runs apiece as Texas State eliminated Little Rock from the Sun Belt baseball tournament with a 6-3 victory on Thursday at Russo Park in Lafayette, La.

The No. 6-seeded Bobcats (29-27-1) advance to the next round, where they will face either No. 2 Louisiana or No. 3 Troy in another elimination contest at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Friday, May 25.

The Trojans – playing their third game of the tournament as the No. 7 seed – came into Thursday's tilt on the heels of a back-and-forth 19-16 loss to the Ragin' Cajuns early Thursday morning. The setback began Wednesday night but was halted in the fourth inning due to rain.

The Trojan offense kept it going into their second game with a pair of first-inning runs, but a two-out RBI single in the home half of the inning from junior Texas State's Hubbard plated Jonathan Ortega to cut the deficit in half.

The Bobcats pushed the lead to a 4-2 advantage thanks in part to a two-RBI triple from Shuffield. Shuffield and senior Luke Sherley later executed a double steal for the third run of the inning.

Little Rock got within one in the top of the sixth, but Texas State pulled away with two insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Connor Reich (6-3) earned the win for Texas State after allowing three runs on just four hits in the first 5.1 innings. He struck out five and walked just three. Braden Pearson pitched the final 3.2 frames and did not give up a run to collect his second save of the year.

Troy Alexander and Nick Perez had two hits each to lead the Trojans. Alexander also finished with two runs scored and an RBI.

Starting pitcher Aaron Funk (2-1) took the loss after giving up four runs on five hits in 4.2 innings of work.