Bobcats dominate HCU in offensive showcase

Texas State ended their homestand in dominating fashion as the Bobcats out slugged the Houston Christian Huskies in a 13-7 win.

It was an offensive showcase for Head Coach Steven Trout’s crew as the Bobcats hammered out 13 hits, two home runs, and one triple.

“Offensively, we kept grinding and responding,” Trout said. “We let them build some innings for us and then some big swings from Cade Manning, Jose Gonzalez and Chase Mora had another home run. Really good job of responding and keeping finding ways to score runs.”

Texas State got on the scoreboard first in the second inning as a bases loaded walk allowed for a run to score as the Bobcats took a 1-0 lead.

On the next at-bat, Davis Powell kicked off the fireworks factory with a 2-run RBI single to extend the lead at 3-0.

Leadoff hitter Kameron Weil tacked on another run with a RBI double towards center field as Texas State took a commanding 4-0 lead.

But with the swing of the bat, the Huskies were back in the game as a three-run home run into left field flipped the game back to Houston Christian as the lead was cut to 4-3.

The next inning saw Houston Christian take their first lead of the night as a two-run home run put the Huskies out in front at 5-4.

“We have to continue to find those shutdown innings,” Trout said. “It’s a game of momentum and Coastal can really hit so we are going to do a good job going there… We just have to keep both the momentum and the confidence up and go from there.”

The Bobcats didn’t lose the lead however as left fielder Jose Gonzalez blasted a two-run RBI triple into center field as Texas State retook the lead at 6-5.

Gonzalez then took advantage of a wild pitch to score another run as the Bobcats went up 7-5.

Texas State followed the inning up with another huge scoring output as both Cade Manning and Chase Mora hit back to back homeruns to put the Bobcats up at 9-5.

Once again the Huskies refused to give in as a tworun home run in the top of the eighth inning cut the lead back down at 9-7.

However, Texas State responded once more in the bottom of the eighth as Gonzalez hit a two-run RBI single towards right field as the Bobcats extended their lead to 11-7.

Mora tacked on another RBI to his stat count as a groundout to the third baseman allowed Gonzalez to score once more and put Texas State up 12-7.

Manning capped off the evening in emphatic fashion with his second home run of the game as the Bobcats put the game away at 13-7.

Despite the bullpen taking some licks, it was a quality start from junior pitcher Peyton Zabel.

Zabel finishes his start going four innings while allowing just two hits, no runs, no walks, and throwing three strikeouts.

“I thought Peyton Zabel was really good,” Trout said. That was the best he has thrown in a Bobcat uniform. We are going to need that going forward. I thought Jonathan Martinez had a good performance there at the end.”

Texas State returns to conference play tonight as the Bobcats go on the road to Coastal Carolina in another high profile showdown with the Chanticleers.

First pitch is at 5 p.m.