Texas State drops final game to Southern Miss

Texas State’s season came to an end last weekend as the Bobcats fell to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 5-3.

The loss dropped the Bobcats into a tie with Georgia State for the 10th and final spot for the conference tournament with the top ten teams qualifying. Since Texas State and Georgia State did not play each other in the regular season, the tiebreaker came down to conference series results against a common opponent.

Starting from first place and working down, the tiebreaker came down to both teams’ results against Southern Miss. Georgia State won their conference series against Southern Miss while Texas State dropped their conference series against the Golden Eagles.

In the final game against Southern Miss, Texas State scored first in the top of the second on the RBI single from left fielder Daylan Pena.

The Golden Eagles tied the game in the bottom of the third inning on the fielder’s choice before Texas State responded in the next at-bat.

In the top of the fourth inning with nobody on, catcher August Ramirez hammered a solo home run into center field. Going into the fifth inning, Texas State led 2-1.

Unfortunately for the Bobcats, it was the last lead they held for the game.

Southern Miss answered back with an RBI single to tie the game before taking the lead on an RBI double to go up 3-2.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Golden Eagles extended their lead with another RBI double.

Southern Miss tacked on one insurance in the bottom of the eighth inning with a solo home run as the Golden Eagles looked to close out the game.

But Texas State did not go down without a fight.

After the Bobcats struck out twice to start the top of the ninth inning, Pena reached base before advancing to second on a Golden Eagle fielding error.

Alex Gonzales pinch ran for Pena before scoring on an RBI single by right fielder Cade Manning, cutting the deficit down to 5-3.

Center fielder Kameron Weil forced the walk to give the Bobcats the tying run at first base and runners on first and second.

Despite the two-out hitting, the Bobcats were unable to complete the comeback. In the next atbat, Texas State hit into an infield fly as Southern Miss completed the win and the comeback.

The Bobcats finish the season with a 27-29 overall record and a 13-17 record in the conference. Texas State will also miss the conference tournament for the first time since 1995.

cmcwilliams@sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc