Texas State snaps losing streak against Coastal Carolina in 7-4 victory

The last time Texas State beat Coastal Carolina, the Bobcats’ fifth-year seniors weren’t even on the roster yet.

In an episode of the On the Record Sports podcast on Wednesday, senior outfielder John Wuthrich pointed out that he’d gone 0-7 in his career against the Chanticleers. The most recent loss came via a 12-2 run-ruling in seven innings on May 22, 2021, in Conway, S.C.

Wuthrich also noted he’d never played against CCU at home, though, and hoped that it would give the maroon and gold enough of an edge to pull out a sweep this weekend. Texas State took the first step toward pulling it off on Friday, earning a 7-4 victory over the Chanticleers for the first time since May 26, 2017, inside Bobcat Ballpark.

“Honestly, I didn't know we had that losing streak,” head coach Steven Trout said. “I mean, it's a very, very quality club, and it's gonna be a grind all weekend to battle them. And so yeah, just excited that we're 1-0 on the weekend and got off to a good start. Now we've got a chance to win a series (Saturday).”

Junior starting pitcher Zeke Wood retired the first 10 batters he saw and senior outfielder Ben McClain led the bottom of the first inning off by swatting a solo home run down the right field line, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead. 

It was the first of many timely and meaningful plate appearances for McClain. On his next trip up, McClain was hit by a pitch and got on base for the second time. Two at-bats later, freshman first baseman Daylan Pena launched another home run to right centerfield, extending the lead to 3-0.

“He started off with a breaking ball I believe and just came back with a fastball. And I was just ready to hit something out over the plate. And I put a good swing on it and everything else happened,” Pena said. “I mean, we came in and followed the game plan. We knew they were a tough team. We came out and we competed all nine innings and we produced for Zeke and found a way to win.”

Despite not giving up any hits, Wood began to slip a bit in the fourth, walking three consecutive batters to load the bases with just one out. Still, Wood collected a strikeout in the next at-bat — his fifth of the night — and forced a foul out to strand all three runners and escape the inning with the shutout preserved. 

Wood walked the first two batters of the fifth inning and was relieved by junior right-hander Triston Dixon. Coastal Carolina managed to plate its lead runner for the team’s first score of the game, but couldn’t bring the second home. Dixon kept the bases clean in the sixth, but the visitors’ offense began to heat up in the seventh. The Chanticleers led off with a walk and a single, and senior second baseman Matt McDermott cleared the bases with a three-RBI, go-ahead homer to left field.

Still, no one from the maroon and gold side seemed too concerned.

“I thought you know Zeke was really good early, obviously didn't give a hit in the outing, and then just lost command a little bit, just kind of lost his fastball and couldn't get it dialed back in. But he battled like crazy and got us off to a decent start,” Trout said. “And then, how about Dixon? Even though he gave up the homer, I thought he was really good and really effective. And that's baseball, you're gonna leave a bad pitch every once in a while and the guy took a good swing on it.

“You know, there's times I call the team up. I didn't call the team up with this one because I just trust these guys. I trust they're going to be emotionally able to overcome adversity, they're gonna be emotionally ready to go win the next pitch.”

“To be honest, nobody batted an eye, nobody's head was low. We already knew we were gonna come back,” McClain said. “There was no doubt in any one of our minds that we were losing this game. So with that confidence in ourselves and each other, we did exactly what we thought were gonna do.”

Junior left fielder Jose Gonzalez drew a walk to begin the bottom of the seventh. Senior designated hitter Wesley Faison hit into a fielder’s choice next, replacing Gonzalez at first. Junior catcher Peyton Lewis sent a line drive to right field, moving Faison to third and senior second baseman Cameron Gibbons struck out, bringing McClain up to the plate with two outs.

After going down 0-1 in the count, McClain bounced a ball off the left field wall for a two-RBI double, putting the Bobcats back in front, 5-4. Wuthrich followed it up with another single, bringing McClain around to make it a two-run lead.

“In film, Coach was explaining to all the hitters that mostly, a lot of the pitchers work away, away, away, and that they all have a pretty good off-speed. So going into the game, I kind of had like prior knowledge that they were gonna be working mostly away. So I was mostly looking for, like, overplayed away. And if they come in, I'm gonna turn,” McClain said. “So on the first (at-bat), they came in on accident and I actually turned on it. But on the last one today, all those pitches were mostly away. So I just had the right approach and was going with it.”

The hosts added an insurance run in the eighth after senior shortstop Dalton Shuffield connected for a triple and a sacrifice fly by senior third baseman Justin Thompson allowed him to tag up. Tristan Stivors closed out the final two innings, keeping Texas State in front for the 7-4 victory and earning his sixth save of the year.

Dixon (3-0) earned the win on the night, giving up two hits, one walk and three runs while striking out three in 3.0 innings of work. The Bobcats (18-4, 4-0 Sun Belt) will look to earn its sixth series win of the season on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. They’ll finish off the weekend with the Chanticleers  (12-8-1, 1-2-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m.