'Cats start season with series win over Stony Brook, 3-1

Wes Engle hadn’t made an appearance for the Bobcats in nearly two years.

The left-handed pitcher underwent shoulder surgery after his junior season and redshirted last year while recovering from it. His last game with the maroon and gold took place on May 15, 2018 at the University of Texas at Austin.

But the senior showed no signs of rust on Sunday. Engle threw 74 pitches in 4.1 innings, giving up four hits, one walk, zero runs and tying his career-high of eight strikeouts, helping Texas State (3-1) defeat Stony Brook (1-3) inside Bobcat Ballpark, 4-3.

“I thought he did great. You know, he was Wes,” Texas State head coach Steven Trout said. “He was throwing strikes and keeping them off balance. He's got a really good fastball. And so more importly, he showed his composure and had a big pickoff move there in the third, I believe. That got us out of a jam and so, that's what we needed. We had that last year in Connor Reich on Sundays and it'd be nice to keep seeing that guy out there on Sundays and get a lot of wins.”

Engle’s was one of multiple strong pitching performances for the hosts during the 3-1 (4-3, 6-0, 2-3, 4-3) series win over the Seawolves. Trout planned to keep his starters’ pitch counts low to get a better look at his relievers. But after this weekend’s slate of games, the Bobcats’ team ERA remains a 2.25.

The visitors put runners on first and second base after Engle walked his first batter of the day. Redshirt sophomore right-hander Matthew Nicholas came in to close out the inning for Texas State on the mound. Nicholas struck out the next two batters to retire the side.

“I mean, every guy gave us a good, quality start. The pitch counts were a little low but we knew that going into it. So I'm really excited to where we are as a pitching staff,” Trout said. So you know, we're starting to build depth and more importantly, starting to build trust in them. That's the biggest thing, as we look at it. And all these guys are new guys — a lot of them. So trying to get that trust involved, and more importantly, get them confident when they go out to the mound.”

Freshman righty Tony Robie threw the next two innings for the Bobcats but gave up a trio of runs in the top of the seventh to give Stony Brook a 3-1 lead. But the maroon and gold’s bats came alive in the bottom of the frame to pull out the win.

Junior shortstop Dalton Shuffield led off with a single to left field. Sophomore right fielder Peyton Lewis swung for a triple two at-bats later, sending Shuffield home. Redshirt senior catcher Tucker Redden tied the score up with an RBI single through the left side and senior second baseman Jaxon Williams hit the game winner with a double that hit the left centerfield fence.

“I thought it had a chance (to be a homerun) because the wind was blowing out,” Williams said. “But I knew, if anything, it was going to be over his head. So I mean, I was just glad I got to put the ball in play, solid.”

Shuffield led the team batting 3-4 and scoring twice. Robie received the win in Sunday’s contest. Redshirt senior RHP Brent Hebert, who closed out the final two innings for the hosts, earned a save.

Trout said he’d like to see smarter approaches at the plate from his players. Texas State fell behind in the count too often for the new head coach’s liking.

But if the team can continue holding its opponents to low scores, he’ll take it in stride.

“I couldn't be more fired up for our pitchers and our defense,” Trout said. “We've made one error in four games, which is really hard to do the first time out. And so our guys did a phenomenal job throwing strikes, coming off speed. We should have won (Saturday) from the pitching standpoint. But if those guys throw the ball like that, we play that type of defense, we'll win a lot of baseball games.”

The Bobcats travel to Houston Baptist (0-4) to take on the Huskies on Wednesday at 2 p.m.