The Bobcats rallied in the eighth inning, hitting two home runs, including senior Chase Mora who tied Paul Goldschmidt for the most career home runs in program history at 36, as Texas State defeated Georgia Southern 8-5.
Texas State improves to 20-8 for the season and 7-3 in conference play while Georgia Southern falls to 10-20 and 3-7 in conference play.
Junior Manny Salas kicked off the game in style, blasting a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.
Georgia Southern answered in the top of the second, hitting a solo home run before a sacrifice fly tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth.
Junior Jaquae Stewart scored for the Bobcats with runners on second and third as a wild pitch allowed the former Sinton Pirate to score and give the lead back to Texas State.
The Eagles answered again, scoring on an RBI groundout with the bases loaded, tying the game back up at 3-3. Georgia Southern looked to do more damage with runners on second and third with two outs by a putout by sophomore Brady Boles at second ended the at-bat.
In the bottom of the fifth, Salas put Texas State back in front, crushing a two-run homer for his second of the day to give the Bobcats a 5-3 lead.
Yet again, Georgia Southern refused to back down as the Eagles scored on a sacrifice fly in the seventh before an RBI double in the top of the eighth tied the game up at 5-5.
The Eagles almost took the lead going into the bottom of the eighth with a runner on second and two outs but a diving catch by Stewart in left field ended Georgia Southern’s at-bat and sent the Bobcats back into the dugout.
But Stewart’s heroics were not done yet.
Facing one out on a 2-2 count, Stewart crushed a solo home-run over the wall in center field which was tracked over 450-feet, putting the Bobcats up 6-6.
Following a strike out, freshman catcher Clayton Namken reached base after being hit by the pitch to bring up Mora.
Stuck on a 2-2 count with two outs and a runner on first, Mora sent the next pitch over the wall in left field for a historic 36th career home run and putting the Bobcats up 8-5.
Freshman closer Wade Cooper finished the inning, striking out three to earn his fourth win of the season on the mound and give the Bobcats the victory.
Texas State will play in a double-header on Friday due to inclement weather against Georgia Southern to close out the three-game series.
First pitch for Game 1 is set for 2 p.m. Friday while Game 2 is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Bobcat Ballpark.
