Deja Vu as the Bobcats upset No. 18 Longhorns

It was deja vu for Texas as Texas State pulled off the upset once more in the Bobcats 9-3 win over the No. 18 Longhorns Tuesday in Austin.

Coming off of a 5-2 loss to Texas on Monday, Head Coach Steven Trout was proud of his team for putting together a complete team performance for not only the Bobcats largest win over the Longhorns since 2001, but the first time Texas State has captured consecutive road wins against Texas since the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

“Just a really quality game,” Trout said. “We talk about it all the time about putting all three sides of the game together. Tonight we pitched it really well, played good defense and had a lot of quality at bats. That was the complete game we had been asking for.”

It was another solid effort from the Texas State bullpen who followed up pitcher Jack Stroud’s first career start for the Bobcats which ended with the junior throwing three innings and allowing just four hits, two runs, no walks, and striking out four batters.

Cameron Bush recorded his first win of the season by throwing just two innings and allowing just three hits, one run, no walks and striking out two batters.

Tristan Dixon picked up his fifth save of the season by throwing the final four innings while allowing just two hits, one walk, no walks and throwing a game high seven strikeouts.

“He was phenomenal,” Trout said. “He just filled it up … It was a good job of competing like crazy. He wanted the ball and the moment so we kept riding with him.”

As for the offense, the lesson of staying within their approach paid dividends for Texas State as three Bobcat hitters had two hits or more.

With the game tied at 2-2 in the fifth inning, the Bobcats put runners on first and second with two outs.

Freshman sensation and second baseman Chase Mora broke the deadlock with a long hit into the center to not only score a run but also to advance to second on the throw to give Texas State a 3-2 lead.

Following a walk by infielder Daylan Pena, designated hitter August Rameriez ripped a double down the left field line to score both runners as the Bobcats extended the lead at 5-2.

Despite the Longhorns adding a run in the bottom of the fifth, Texas State answered back with a Ben McClain RBI single to make it a 6-3 game.

The Bobcats put the game away in the seventh inning as Mora kicked things off with a leadoff single.

Following a strikeout, Rameriez hit his second double of the night to score Mora and extend the lead to 7-3.

As catcher Peyton Lewis singled into right field to put runners on the corners, third baseman Ryder Hernadez hit an RBI single into left field to put the Bobcats up 8-3.

Cade Manning added the final run for Texas State as a sac fly made the score 9-3.

With the Bobcats back in conference play this week, the team must figure out how to capture the momentum built up from the win and transfer it for the rest of the season.

“We have to find ways to continue to be better,” Trout said. “You have to take some of this momentum and keep getting better from it. We are going to head into practice and focus on the things we have been struggling with. But if you can understand how to play this well, we can beat anybody so the key is to play really clean baseball on all sides and take this momentum to go on a roll.”

Texas State returns to play this weekend against the Marshall Thundering Herd in a three games series.

First pitch is at 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter@ColtomBMc