Bobcats defeat rival Roadrunners for win
Texas State claimed another Top 25 victim as the Bobcats defeated longtime rival UTSA in a 5-3 win over the No. 25 Roadrunners in San Antonio.
It was a big victory for Head Coach Steven Trout and his team who avenged their previous loss to the Roadrunners in early March.
“When you get to this point, it’s not about how pretty your wins are,” Trout said. “It’s about finding a way to win. Also, we leave without committing an error.”
One of the strong points for the Bobcats during the five game winning streak, their longest winning streak of the season for far, has been the pitching staff.
Allowing just 2.2 runs over the past five games, Texas State once again put together a flawless performance on the mound allowing just three earned runs, seven hits, four walks and throwing 11 strikeouts.
“Probably the most common thing is we have pitched really well,” Trout said. “Multiple guys stepped up tonight with [Triston] Dixon out and [Nathan] Medrano going down. We just found a way.”
Earning his first win as a Bobcat, starting pitcher Peyton Zabel threw 3.2 innings while allowing just two hits, no runs, one walk and throwing a team high five strikeouts.
Coming in for the relief was the combination of Jack Stroud, Nathan Medrano and Rhett Mc-Caffery who were able to hold off the UTSA comeback throwing combined three innings while allowing just three hits, three runs, two walks, and striking out three batters.
In his first save of the season, on his birthday, Cameron Bush came on in the final 2.1 innings to allow no hits, one walk, one run and three strikeouts.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bobcats struck first blood in the second inning as UTSA walked in a run with the bases loaded to give Texas State an early 1-0.
Shortstop Davis Powell extended the lead for the Bobcats in the fifth inning as the junior delivered a bomb towards left field for the two-run home run to also score center fielder Ben McClain and give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.
The Roadrunners scored their first run of the game in the fifth inning as Texas State committed the balk which allowed the runner from third to score as UTSA cut the deficit at 3-1.
The Bobcats answered back in the sixth inning as right fielder Cade Manning ripped a double down the right field line to score both Daylon Pena and August Ramirez and give Texas State a 5-1 lead.
UTSA gained one run back in the same inning with a RBI single into right field as the Roadrunners cut the deficit down to 5-2.
The Roadrunners again made things more interesting as another RBI single, this time put in center field, to make a 5-3 game.
Despite having two more innings to complete the comeback, UTSA was shut down by Bush’s performance on the mound as the Bobcats held on for the 5-3 win.
Texas State is on the road this weekend for another important conference series as the Bobcats square off with the Troy Trojans.
The Trojans are coming off of a series win against the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns over the weekend taking two games out of the three and a win over the rival Jacksonville State Gamecocks in a 11-1 win last Tuesday.
This will be the first time both Texas State and Troy will have met on the baseball field for the first time since the 2021 season with both teams missing each other in conference last season due the conference schedule.
Troy currently leads the all-time series at 13-8 but Texas State won the series in their last encounter taking two games out of the three game series.
In the Sun Belt Standings, Troy currently is tied for fourth place with Georgia Southern and are one game behind Texas State who is tied with Old Dominion for third place.
First pitch is at 6 p.m. Friday night at Riddle- Pace Field in Alabama.
The series will be streamed on ESPN+.
