TXST BASEBALL
Following their win over No. 18 Texas A&M, the Bobcats picked up where they left off, defeating the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 10-0 through seven innings in the 68th all-time meeting between the former conference rivals.
Texas State improves to 23-10 for the season while SFA falls to 18-16.
The Bobcats scored in the bottom of the first when sophomore Dawson Park hit an RBI single to take the early lead.
Following Park, redshirt sophomore Ethan Farris hit an RBI single of his own as Texas State entered the second up 2-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Bobcats offense continued to roll on.
Senior Austin Munguia connected with an RBI single to score senior Chase Mora before freshman Jackson Cotton came up to the plate.
Cotton then hit his 11th home run of the season, tying him with Dawson Park for the season, as the Bobcats extended the lead to 5-0.
Farris added another RBI to his stat count in the bottom of the fifth, hitting an RBI double as the Bobcats went into the sixth.
With runners on first and second, Cotton hit into a fielder’s choice but an error by the Lumberjacks allowed Chase Mora to score from second.
Following Cotton with the bases loaded, Park also hit into a fielder’s choice by another error by Stephen F. Austin allowed both Cotton and Munguia to score.
Junior Jaquae Stewart added the final run of the inning, hitting a sacrifice fly into left-center field to score junior Manny Salas as Texas State led 10-0.
In the top of the seventh, the Bobcats got the first two outs with strikeouts by senior Braylen Timmins but SFA loaded up the bases.
The Lumberjacks looked to extend the game to keep their fleeting comeback hopes alive but senior Shane Connell struck out the final batter as the Bobcats sent the crowd home early with a 10-0 win.
Senior left-hander Ryan Markwardt earned his first win of the season, throwing four innings in the start, allowing one hit, no runs, two walks and striking out six batters, more than the entire SFA pitching staff combined in the game.
Texas State will face Houston Christian in the midweek game on Tuesday.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Irvine- Rasmussen Ballpark.
Coverage of the Bobcats conference series will be published in the Wednesday paper while individual games will be published online.
