The Bobcats' new additions made their impact during the weekend as Texas State completed their three-game sweep of the Niagara Purple Eagles with a 11-0 win on Sunday.
Head Coach Steven Trout highlighted the success of juniors Manny Salas and Jaquae Stewart at the plate. Salas had five hits in seven plate appearances over the weekend, including crushing a solo home run that went over 400 ft. Stewart was 6-11 from the plate with four RBIs.
“That's why we brought them here,” Trout said. “That was the hope of coming in, being big and impactful bats and they did a really good job. They're veteran guys, obviously, Manny [Salas], who's from the junior college world. Jaquae [Stewart] has been to a few places so to us, we wanted to make this home and bring that thunder for the left, right in the middle of our order. So a really good job opening the weekend.”
On Friday, the Bobcats started graduate student Kyle Froleich who threw five innings while striking out eight batters and allowing just two hits while the Bobcats shutout Niagara in a 13-0 win.
“That's what (coaching staff) prepped us to do,” Froehlich said. “They pushed us to fill up a zone, let our stuff play and I thought those guys did a great job tonight afterwards coming in, continuing to pound the zone and just being their best selves out there.”
The win was highlighted by freshman Jackson Cotton hitting a three-run inside-the-park home run for his first collegiate homer.
“When I hit second, the ball was still in the air and it was probably about 3 steps before I got to 3rd base,” Cotton said “ I looked up and I saw Trout waving at me and I was, ‘Oh, I gotta go.’ I didn't even look up. I was head down, thinking it was a triple and then he waved at me and I was just going to go from there.”
Cotton was one of six freshman players that saw action over the weekend for the Bobcats. Two of the freshmen, Nolan Moore and Clayton Namken, both from New Braunfels, started in the Bobcats second game against Niagara.
With Moore on the mound and Namken behind the plate, the duo helped lead the Bobcats to a 11-3 win over the Purple Eagles. Moore finished the game throwing four innings while allowing just three hits, three walks and striking out five batters. Namken went 2-3 from the plate, including hitting an RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth inning.
“We didn't skip a beat,” Namken said. “[Moore is] my guy, my roommate. We've been playing baseball since we were in T-ball, so I know the ins and outs of his pitches. We were just going after that. That's every time Nolan's on the mound, we're competing and we're trying to get after them.”
With multiple freshmen contributing to the Bobcats sweep against Niagara, Namken talked about their success and how they plan to contribute to the team both on and off the field.
“It's discipline,” Namken said. ”That's the biggest thing that we talk about a lot is staying disciplined with your routines. This freshman class is a very mature class, and I know I'm speaking for myself too but we get after it. Everybody gets their work in and does what they need to do. We come out here and we're ready to play even if we're not playing.”
Texas State returns to play Tuesday as the Bobcats travel to Waco to battle the Baylor Bears. Baylor is coming off a three-game sweep of the New Mexico State Aggies.
First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Magonlia Field at Baylor Ballpark in Waco.
