By Randy Stevens
Sports Editor
San Marcos
March 25, 2009 11:37 am
—
The question wasn’t if offensive records were broken after the Texas State Bobcats destroyed Prairie View A&M, 33-3 Tuesday night at Bobcat Field. It was more like how many?
The answer? A lot.
It was the most ever runs (33), hits (30), RBIs (29) and the largest margin of victory in program history, as the team’s 56 at-bats tied a team record.
“We really did swing the bats well tonight,” Texas State head coach Ty Harrington said. “We didn’t swing them as well as I anticipated we would last weekend at Beaumont (the Bobcats beat Lamar two out of three games) but that wasn’t the case tonight.”
The scoring output was the most for the Bobcats since beating Texas Southern 28-0 in February of 2001 and the 30 hits shattered the previous mark of 24 against Texas Southern in 2002. The 29 RBIs bested a 23-year-old record when the Bobcats posted 26 against Texas Southern in 1986.
It was also a record-breaking night for senior outfielder Spenser Dennis, who set a team record with seven hits in the game and tied a team record with five runs scored. Dennis, who played one season at Prairie View in 2007, also drove in four RBIs against his former team. One of his seven hits was a triple that scored two RBIs in the top of the sixth.
“You get seven hits in a game, I don’t care who it’s against, that’s a special night. I don’t care if you are playing Nerf ball, that was an amazing night,” Harrington said. “I don’t want to say it’s a once in a lifetime kind of thing, but it could surely be. I think it will stick in the record books for quite a while.”
The previous record for hits in a game was five set by John Thompkins in 1999 against Southeastern Louisiana and Rodney Snyder against Hardin-Simmons in 1990.
“I was just trying to hit it hard somewhere and not try to do too much. I just see the ball, and hit the ball,” Dennis said. “I didn’t know about the record until I got five and my teammates were trying to put pressure on me to get the sixth one, and after that, I just tacked one on for insurance, I guess.”
Dennis and Laurn Randell also each had eight at-bats, tying a team record now held by four players (Cassidy Dresch against Northwestern State in 2006 and John Thompkins against San Diego State in 1999).
Dennis wasn’t the only player swinging a hot bat Tuesday night, as junior catcher Ben Theriot came through with a first-inning grand slam that gave the Bobcats early control of the game, and was a double short of hitting for the cycle with a triple and two singles. Theriot led the Bobcats with six RBIs, while 13 different Texas State players posted RBIs in the game.
Theriot’s grand slam helped give the Bobcats a 6-0 lead as Texas State scored in every inning but two. The team enjoyed a 10-0 lead after two innings and a 17-1 lead after four. Things really got out of hand for Prairie View in the bottom of the eighth as Texas State scored 10 runs to set the record-setting tally, four of which were walked in by A&M reliever Donovan Ward.
Bobcat bench players wanting to make their mark on the game didn’t help Ward either, as he surrendered 10 hits over two innings of work. Four of the hits came off the bats of non starters.
The Bobcats, on the other hand had enjoyed somewhat solid outings from four different pitchers. Starter Garrett Carruth picked up his first win as a Bobcat, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
Freshman Covey Morrow threw the next two innings, giving up two hits and no runs, while senior right-hander Aaron Taylor threw an inning with no runs or hits and two strikeouts. Fielding Pittman closed out the game in the top of the ninth, allowing one run on three hits before getting the final out.
With the win, the Bobcats improved to 13-8 overall while the Jaguars fell to 14-10. Texas State is back in action tonight with a 6:30 p.m. home game against Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders are 10-14 overall under first-year head coach Dan Spencer and are coming off a 4-3 win over Lubbock Christian Wednesday night.
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