Texas State takes 5-3 win over Utah Valley on Opening Day

A week before the 2022 season began, Texas State head baseball coach Steven Trout noted that Wesley Faison looked like he was “back to the Wesley of 2020” in practice.

The Wesley of 2020 was one of the biggest bats in the Sun Belt. In 17 games, Faison was third in the conference with a .760 slugging percentage and tied for second in the league with six home runs. He also led the Bobcats with a .352 batting average and a 1.159 OPS.

The Wesley of 2021 wasn’t the same player. He struggled at the plate all year long, getting on base just .283% of the time — the lowest mark among any Texas State player with at least seven at-bats. He finished with fewer hits and RBIs than the year before despite playing in nearly twice as many games.

Faison put in a vintage performance in the maroon and gold’s Opening Day game on Friday. The fifth-year senior went 3-4 at the plate, swinging for a game-winning homer in the bottom of the eighth to give the Bobcats a 5-3 win over Utah Valley.

Here's @wesley_faison's go-ahead home run, #TXST's first of the season @smdrsports https://t.co/XWQuAtdxVD pic.twitter.com/z0XIMuKUNE

— Drew King (@drewking0222) February 19, 2022

“I feel really good,” Faison said. “You know, it was great for the team to get out and get a victory today. It was pretty important to get off on the right foot, to get started the right way. We had to battle through some adversity today because, you know, we gave up the lead and had to battle back then. But I think it's good for us as a team to move forward.”

Faison, batting fifth in the order as a designated hitter, got the hosts on the board first in the top of the second inning. He drilled a double to right centerfield, then advanced to third and home plate on a pair of wild pitches for the first run of the game.

Junior catcher Peyton Lewis was walked two at-bats later. Senior second baseman Cameron Gibbons singled through the right side. A fielder’s choice allowed senior centerfielder Isaiah Ortega-Jones to reach first, Gibbons to move to second and Lewis to cross home plate. Senior shortstop Dalton Shuffield grounded out to first base in the next plate appearance to score Gibbons and give Texas State a 3-0 lead.

The Bobcats (1-0) looked like they might keep the runs coming in the next inning. Faison hit for another double, this time to the opposite field time down the third baseline, and senior third baseman Justin Thompson and Lewis were both walked in the next at-bats, loading the bases with two outs. The Wolverines (0-1) brought a fresh arm out of the bullpen, though, and struck out Gibbons to strand all three runners.

“Offensively I thought, for the first three innings, we were really good,” Trout said. “I was fired up for (Faison's) first double the other way. I think that's the first time I've ever seen Wes hit the ball the other way like that.”

The team struggled against Utah Valley’s new pitcher, who kept Texas State scoreless over the next four frames. But the hosts were held upright by a career performance from junior right-handed pitcher Zeke Wood, making his first-ever Friday night start for the Bobcats.

Wood allowed just one walk and no hits through the first six innings, fanning a career-high 12 batters. His season-best in 2021 — Wood’s first year at Texas State — was seven.

“I just executed (my) fastball. That's been our motive as a staff, is ‘execute, execute, execute,’” Wood said. “Every start to me is the exact same. I'm trying to do the same thing, just execute every pitch and that's what it boils down to. And I mean, it was a little bit bigger, it being a Friday, you know? But I tried not to let that affect me and just treated this as a day-to-day start.”

Wood began to fade in the top of the seventh, giving up a single and a base on balls with no outs. Trout brought senior right-hander Trevis Sundgren in relief, but Sundgren hit the first batter he saw with a pitch and the Wolverines connected for three more singles to tie the game at 3-3.

The maroon and gold went down in order in the bottom of the inning. Trout sent Tristan Stivors out to the mound to start the eighth, and the senior RHP kept the bases clean with a groundout and two K’s.

Junior left fielder Jose Gonzalez led off the bottom of the eighth singling to left field on the first pitch he saw, then advanced to second on a wild pitch, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position. Faison stepped up to the plate with a 1-1 count, then hammered the next ball he saw for a two-RBI home run to put the Bobcats back in front.

“(Gonzalez) did a great job getting us started and we got a free 90, got to second base. So I was really just trying to think middle of the field and move them over,” Faison said. “But luckily (the pitcher) left one hanging and I put a good swing on it.”

Stivors closed out the top of the ninth with two more strikeouts, receiving the win and sealing the 5-3 victory for Texas State.

The team continues its series with Utah Valley inside Bobcat Ballpark on Saturday, playing in a doubleheader — Trout said junior RHP Triston Dixon will start the first game at 2 p.m. and Texas Tech transfer RHP Levi Wells will start the second at 6 p.m. The Bobcats will end the series on Sunday, playing the Wolverines one last time at 12:30 p.m.

“Anytime you walk home with the victory, that's great,” Trout said. “Our rule is, when it turns midnight, that that game is over with. And so we gotta get on to the next. And so, enjoy it with their families and then go home and then when it's midnight, it's onto the 2 o'clock game.”