SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team took down UTRGV 11-9 Wednesday evening inside Bobcat Ballpark.
The Bobcats improved to 19-11 on the year, while UTRGV slipped to 18-15.
UTRGV initially pushed two across in the top of the first, but a team-leading ninth home run from junior Theodore Hoffman in the bottom of the frame would give the maroon and gold the early 3-2 advantage.
UTRGV plated two more in the top of the second, but true freshman Cole Coffey found his way home on an error a half frame later to keep the score locked at 4-4. Sophomore Ryan Newman scored in the bottom of the third thanks to another error, and the Bobcats kept the lead for good the rest of the way.
TXST added two more in the bottom of the fourth, but UTRGV countered with individual tallies in the sixth and seventh to keep the Texas State advantage at 7-6.
A solo run in the seventh and three more in the eighth for the home club would be enough to stave off a late three-run rally from the visitors in the top of the ninth. UTRGV loaded the bases in the final frame, but Austin Siener flew out to end the game.
Five different Bobcats registered two hits each as they outhit UTRGV 13-11. The visitors led in errors 5-2.
Ortega finished with four RBIs and one run scored, while Hoffman tallied three RBIs and two runs. Junior Derek Scheible went 0-for-2, but he walked three times and scored three runs. He has now walked six times in the past two games. Sophomore Jacob Almendarez scored twice.
Senior Brandon Courville (2-2) collected the victory on the mound. He threw 4.1 innings and conceded one run on two hits, while striking out three and walking four in a relief performance. Sophomore Brandon Lewis started the game and saw his first action since Feb. 25. He picked up the no-decision after conceding four runs on four hits, while walking three in 1.0 inning. Others to pitch on the staff day included junior Blake Walden, sophomore Brayden Theriot and true freshmen Broc Bosse and Zachary Leigh.
Cris Castillo and Joseph Collazo both had three hits. Castillo drove in two runs and Collazo scored twice. Tyler Torres finished 2-for-4 and Noah Lee scored three times.
UTRGV used one pitcher for each inning, with George Lamb (0-1) suffering the loss after allowing the go-ahead unearned run in the third. He allowed three hits. Eddie Delgado started the game and left after allowing three runs on one hit.
Texas State is now set to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series with Little Rock April 7-9.
Warhawks Fall in the Ninth on Wednesday Night
NATCHITOCHES, La. – A back-and-forth battle throughout the night, Northwestern State walked off with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to hand the ULM baseball team a 5-4 loss on Wednesday night to cap the teams’ home-and-home weekend series.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Northwestern State 5, ULM 4
Location: Brown-Stroud Field / Natchitoches, La.
Teams: ULM (9-22, 4-5 SBC)
Northwestern State (10-18, 3-6 SLC)
TURNING POINT
-Tied at 4-4 going into the ninth, Anthony Herrera come on for ULM and struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth before Regan Kaufman squared up the first pitch of his at-bat and sent it over the right-center field wall to give the Demons the walkoff win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-ULM took the early lead with single runs in the second, third and fourth frames, beginning in the second when Chad Bell doubled and later scored on Tyler Cox’s RBI groundout before Gino Marucci’s RBI single in the third inning plated Brady McGehee, who singled to open the inning.
-After Northwestern cut into the Warhawk lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the third, ULM upped the advantage to 3-1 in the top of the fourth on McGehee’s two-out RBI single that brought home Cox, who doubled earlier in the frame.
-The hosts tied the game on a single swing in the bottom of the fourth via Tyler Smith’s two-run homer, which was promptly answered by ULM in the top of the fifth when Francis singled and scored on Chad Bell’s RBI single.
-Northwestern again used the long ball to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, this time a solo homer by Matthew Alford to lead off the frame, knotting things up at 4-4 and set up the ninth.
-ULM finished with 13 total hits and outhit Northwestern, who finished with eight total hits. Francis led the offense with a 3-for-5 night with his run scored, while Bell, Cox, Herrera and McGehee all had two hits in the loss.
-Herrera was saddled with the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season as the fifth Warhawk arm to throw on the night. Starter Derek Martin tossed the first three innings, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts in his first appearance of the season, while Chase Cater also had two strikeouts in his two innings of work.
-Kaufman and Hunter Uzzle each had two hits for four of Northwestern’s eight total hits.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
-Martin’s start Wednesday was just his second career appearance as a Warhawk, as the senior transfer made his return from Tommy John surgery and threw 27 strikes in his 45 total pitches.
-Herrera made his 30th start of the season, but just his third start of the year at second base….McGehee made his fourth start of the season, all at shortstop, as he appeared in his 15th game overall…Marucci made his first start and tallied his first hit as a Warhawk.
UP NEXT
-The Warhawks step back into Sun Belt Conference play this weekend when they host South Alabama in a three-game series beginning Friday night at 6:00 p.m. before a late afternoon Saturday start (4:00 p.m.) and a 1:00 p.m. series finale on Sunday.
@AStateBaseball Falters in Late Innings in Loss at SEMO
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (4/5/17) – The Arkansas State baseball team and Southeast Missouri were tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the seventh, but A-State allowed four runs in back-to-back innings to drop a 10-4 midweek contest to the Redhawks at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau.
A-State (15-14) reliever Chase Nix walked the first batter of the bottom of the seventh before failing to get the out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt to allow the first two Southeast Missouri (15-12) batters to reach base. A passed ball allowed the runners to advance and Tyler Zuber was brought in with a 3-2 count to Dan Holst.
Zuber threw two strikes that Holst fouled off before walking him and then allowed single to Tristen Gagan that was just out of the reach of Jeremy Brown at second base to score the go-ahead run. Brian Lees doubled home two more before a RBI ground out set the score at 6-2 in favor of the Redhawks after the inning.
However, the Red Wolves battled back to within 6-4 on run-scoring singles by Garrett Rucker and Justin Felix with one out in the top of the eighth. SEMO turned to Carlos Vega out of the bullpen with the go-ahead run at the plate and Vega struck out Brown and Jake Bakamus to escape the jam.
Derek Birginske entered to pitch the bottom of the eighth, his first appearance on the mound this season, and allowed four runs, though only one was earned, as Southeast Missouri pushed the lead to 10-4. Vega allowed a two-out, pinch-hit single to J.D. Rainwater, but nothing else in the ninth as he earned his third save of the season. The right-handed reliever struck out four of the six batters he faced as he closed the win for Jared Waldhoff.
Nix took the loss for the Red Wolves after allowing three runs (all earned) on one hit with two walks. Starter Collin Cahill tossed 4+ innings and gave up one run on two hits with three walks and six punch outs.
Joe Schrimpf, Rucker, and Felix paced the A-State offense with two hits apiece, while all three had at least one RBI. Clayton Evans and Chris Caffrey, who pinch hit in the game, had two hits each for the Redhawks, while Caffrey drove in three runs.
The two teams couldn’t push across any runs the first three innings, but Felix put the Red Wolves on the board with a two-out double, that was the team’s first hit of the game, to score Rucker, who walked in the previous at-bat.
Cahill walked the first two batters of the fifth inning after tossing four shutout innings and left the game with Brandon Stuckenschneider relieving him. A runner was thrown out trying to advance to third for the first out of the inning, but a walk and wild pitch put runners on second and third. Holst doubled to deep center on a ball that glanced off Rucker’s glove to score one run, but an 8-6-2 relay throw stopped the go-ahead run from scoring. However, a passed ball allowed the go-ahead run to score for the Redhawks to take a 2-1 advantage into the sixth inning.
Arkansas State returns to action in a Sun Belt Conference series this weekend, April 7-9, at home against Georgia State. First pitch for Friday’s game against the Panthers at Tomlinson Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s contest is also slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch and will be broadcast on ESPN3. The series finale on Sunday will be at 1:00 p.m.