San Marcos, Texas – The No. 5 seed Texas State defeated No. 4 seed Troy, 11-6, on Wednesday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark in the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship first round.

Texas State (31-26) advances to play a 7:30 p.m. CT game tomorrow against the winner of the final game on Wednesday night between No. 1 UL Lafayette and No. 8 Arkansas State. No. 5 seed Troy (32-25) must turn around and play a 12:30 p.m. CT against the loser of the final game on Wednesday night.

The Bobcats were led by senior Tanner Hill who went 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs scored and two RBI. Senior Cory Geisler went 2-for-3, scored two runs and added a RBI. Freshman Ryan Newman went 3-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI.

Texas State, the designated visiting team, used a three-run eighth inning to push it to the victory. The Bobcats entered the inning tied 4-4 with Troy before senior Cory Geisler singled through the left side to score junior Granger Studdard and give the Bobcats the lead. Sophomore Derek Scheible later singled to left to plate Geisler and Newman and put Texas State up for good.

The Bobcats tacked on four more runs in the ninth inning to seal the win. Texas State senior Lucas Humpal (7-5) earned the win as he went eight innings, scattered four hits, allowed four earned runs and struck out one. Troy sophomore Corey Childress fell to 2-4 on the year after he allowed three earned runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings pitched in relief.

The 2016 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship continues on Wednesday with one more game from Bobcat Ballpark on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.