UTSA came into Bobcat Ballpark with an undefeated record. At the end of the night, the Roadrunners were leaving with their first loss.
Behind a 4-4 performance with two RBIs from freshman Clayton Namken and six strikeouts from freshman Titan Targac, the Bobcats defeated the Roadrunners 7-2 in front of the largest crowd to watch the I-35 Rivalry at Bobcat Ballpark.
“It's awesome,” Namken said. “The environment was electric, and that's a big part of our game. When the other side is getting chirped by the student section, it's fun. It makes it easier and you're able to just go out there, fly around and do your thing.”
Texas State improves to 6-2 for the season while UTSA falls to 7-1.
UTSA came into the game averaging 11 runs per game but the Bobcat pitching staff held the Roadrunners to just two runs.
Targac earned his first win of his collegiate career, throwing three innings while allowing just four hits, one earned run, no walks and striking out six batters. The Bobcats pitching staff combined four 14 strikeouts.
“They have a great program over there,” Trout said. “They've been on a really good streak so for us, it's just about doing what we do, right? Go and fill up the strike zone. That's been our philosophy and our method of winning baseball games this spring and pretty simple when you fill up [the zone] and have one walk on the night, four free 90s, it's a really good recipe for success.”
The Bobcats struck first when junior first baseman Manny Salas connected with an RBI single into left with runners on first and second before a UTSA error allowed the base runners to move up a base.
Junior Jaquae Stewart then hit a sacrifice fly to score Jackson Cotton from third to make it a 2-0 game.
The Bobcats continued their offensive tear into the second inning Namken crushed a two-run home run that went over the scoreboard in right field to make it 4-0.
“I was trying to compete on that pitch,” Namken said. “We talked a lot about taking it pitch by pitch, competing every pitch. I was down to 2 strikes and I knew I just had to compete with that pitch. Thankfully it ended up well.”
After two scoreless innings, the Bobcats struck again in the bottom of the fifth.
With runners on first and second with two outs, freshman outfielder Tanner Carson connected with a two-run RBI double, extending the lead to 6-0.
The Roadrunners finally got on the board in the top of the sixth with a leadoff home run.
Texas State answered back in the bottom of the seventh as junior Jaquae Stewart crushed a solo home-run over the wall in center field, extending the lead to 7-1.
UTSA tacked on another run in the top of the eighth inning but it wasn’t enough as the Bobcats sealed the win.
“You talk about [Jackson] Cotton, [Clayton] Namkin and [Tanner] Carson having awesome big hits as freshmen, then [Jaquae Stewart] hitting one over the batter's eye,” Trout said. We just kept scoring. We scored early, and then we continued to score late. We never gave them a chance to build that momentum. So they just did a really good job of just keeping attacking, and being on the atatck that long. So a really good quality win on all sides of the baseball.”
The Bobcats will play at the College Baseball Series in Cleburne where they will face Abilene Christian and Tarleton State.
