Tuesday, February 25
Texas State Stuns No. 3 Houston on Goldy Night
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State parlayed Sunday's win over Wichita State into a stunning 7-6 victory over No. 3 Houston on Goldy Night Wednesday, the same night the Bobcats retired the No. 37 jersey of MLB All Star and former Bobcat Paul Goldschmidt. With the win, Texas State improves to 2-5-1.
Senior righty Blake Whitter turned in an impressive outing with 4.1 innings, three strikeouts and just one run to earn the victory in relief. Whitter stymied the Houston bats, which were hitting .290 coming into the game. All three of his strikeouts caught the Cougars looking and he kept them off balance as they never registered consecutive hits against him.
In addition to Whitter's three strikeouts, Cory Geisler finished with four, three of which flew by Cougars with bats on their shoulders. Houston had no answer for Geisler through four innings, only registering one hit off him in the first four innings.
Texas State helped the pitchers out with runs in the third and fourth innings. Freshman catcher Jared Huber knocked a single in the third to get on base and Cody Lovejoy followed with one of his own, legging out an infield single. The second baseman, in a rush to throw Lovejoy out, committed a throwing error to allow Huber to put the Bobcats on the board and Lovejoy to advance to third.
Cedric Vallieres laid down a beautiful bunt down the third base line after that to plate Lovejoy and put the Bobcats on top, 2-0, headed to the fourth. The Bobcat defense kept momentum with a 4-6-3 double play from Vallieres, Luke Sherley and Ben McElroy in the top of the fourth. A quick groundout finished the top of the inning for Houston.
McElroy led the bottom of the inning off with a single off the pitcher and went to second on a base knock up the middle from Colby Targun. McElroy and Targun both moved into scoring position on a single from Derek Scheible. With bases loaded, Houston pitcher David Longville felt the pressure and committed a balk to bring in McElroy, the first of four runs in the inning.
Huber followed with a squeeze bunt to plate Targun and Scheible scored on a passed ball. Next, Vallieres put the ball in play and Houston third baseman Corey Julks committed one of Houston's three errors on the night. Huber took advantage for a score and a 6-0 Texas State lead after four innings.
Houston answered back with five runs in the top of the fifth inning. Behind five hits, four consecutive, the Cougars were able to close the gap to just one run. Scheible, however, stopped the run of consecutive hits with an outstanding diving catch in centerfield. Later, Whitter finished the inning with his first strikeout of the night. The Bobcats tallied seven between Whitter and Geisler.
After that, Texas State added another run in the sixth inning, thanks in large part to the work of Scheible. He led off with a six-pitch walk and stole second. He took third on a wild pitch and came in on a squeeze bunt from Sherley. The Bobcats held Houston without a run after that until the ninth inning when the Cougars were hoping for a rally. It didn't happen.
Targun and Lovejoy led Texas State with two hits apiece. Lovejoy added a walk and an RBI while they both scored once. Vallieres, McElroy, Scheible and Huber also finished with a hit each with Vallieres, Huber and Sherley knocking RBIs.
Next, the Bobcats are scheduled for a four-game set against Central Michigan over the weekend with games at 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.
Appalachian State Blows by Wake Forest, 10-1
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Jaylin Davis homered twice and Taylor Thurber allowed one run over five innings to lead Appalachian State University baseball to a 10-1 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday afternoon at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Davis’ first home run opened the scoring for Appalachian State (3-3) in the fourth inning and his second was the biggest hit in a four-run eighth that turned a slim 4-1 lead into a commanding 8-1 advantage. The Mountaineers tacked on two more runs in the ninth to account for the final margin.
Bradley Mortonalso homered for the Mountaineers, which set season highs for runs and hits (12) in the romp. The No. 2-4 hitters in Appalachian’s batting order — Michael Pierson, Davis, Dillon Dobson — combined for eight of the club’s 12 hits, with Pierson going 3-for-4 with two walks and three RBI, Davis finishing 2-for-6 with the two bombs and Dobson going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored.
Making his first start after 54 career relief appearances, Thurber retired Wake Forest’s first 12 batters of the ballgame before the Demon Deacons scored their only run on a solo homer by Will Craig in the bottom of the fifth inning. Craig’s blast snapped a string of 24-consecutive hitters that Thurber had retired over his last three outings.
Thurber (1-0) surrendered only three hits in five innings before three Appalachian State relievers — freshman Ryan Ross, sophomore Matt Brill and freshman Reed Howell — slammed the door with four shutout frames out of the bullpen.
Appalachian State returns to action this weekend when it travels to Emerson, Ga. for a three-game series versus No. 16 Maryland. Game times are set for 1 p.m. Friday (note change from original game time), 4 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday at the Perfect Game LakePoint Complex. The series was originally scheduled to be played on Maryland’s campus in College Park, Md. but was moved south due to wintry weather in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Eagles Fall on Walk-Off Double at North Florida
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Blake Voyles hit a walk-off double to hand the North Florida Ospreys a 5-4 win over the Georgia Southern Eagles at Harmon Stadium.
Georgia Southern (5-4) never trailed until the final at-bat of the game and led 4-2 entering the ninth inning.
The North Florida (5-4) three-run rally in the ninth inning handed Jamie Cardwell his first victory of the season. Cardwell (1-0) struck out a batter in a scoreless ninth inning.
After a lead off double in the bottom of the ninth scored, Chris Brown settled down to record two outs before walking a pair of batters and allowing the double to Voyles. Brown (1-1) was tagged with his first loss of the season.
The Eagles got out to an early lead in the first inning, scoring a run without a hit on Ryan Cleveland's ground out.
The Ospreys tied the game in the ninth inning on triple by Donnie Dewees and a sac fly from Trent Higginbothem.
GS took a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning on Chase Griffin's third triple of his career and a RBI ground out from Will Hudgins.
UNF cut the lead to two runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning, scoring on a two-out single from Keith Skinner.
The Eagles return home to host the Georgia Bulldogs in a three-game weekend series at J.I. Clements Stadium. All three games will air on ESPN3 and fans are encouraged to "Keep Clements Blue" by wearing their Georgia Southern gear to the game.