Bobcats Take GSU Series with 10-1 Saturday Win
by, Joshua Flanagan
SAN MARCOS – Texas State used timely hitting on Saturday’s Senior Day and strong pitching to secure the series against Georgia State with a 10-1 victory over the Panthers to improve to 26-22 on the season and 13-10 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Bobcats saw seniors Tanner Hill, Cory Geisler and Chase Hodson step up in a big way after Hill, Geisler, Lucas Humpal and Pasquale Mazzoccoli contributed in Friday’s victory. Texas State will look for the sweep at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Texas State’s timely hitting early hurt Georgia State. In both the first and third innings, the Bobcats scored two runs each inning with two outs. First, Tanner Hill kept the inning alive and Ryan Newman brought him home with his seventh homer of the year. Then, Cory Geisler kept the third inning alive with a two-out single that Hill followed with a double. Newman plated both of them with another two-out, two-RBI hit.
With a 4-1 lead, the Bobcats continued to lean on Georgia State, adding a run in the fourth off a Luke Sherley double and pummeling the Panthers with a five-run eighth inning.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Hennigan struck out eight, the most he’s had since March 28 at Sam Houston State. He only gave up four hits and one earned run for his fourth win of the season. Chase Hodson struck out five with just one walk and two hits given up in four innings to earn his third save of the season.
WHO STOOD OUT
Ryan Newman / IF/C / Freshman / Brenham, Texas
Newman continues to hit the ball well, finishing Saturday 2-for-4 with 16 hits in the last eight games. He knocked his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot, and came up with a big two-RBI single for four RBIs on the day. He also legged out an infield error to reach base three times, leading to two runs.
Dylan Paul / OF/IF / Sophomore / Katy, Texas
Paul, playing right field Saturday, put together a 3-for-4 day, scoring twice and knocking in an RBI. After striking out in the second inning, Paul was not retired again, striking two singles and a double. In right field, he also showed out defensively, registering four putouts, the most of any outfielder on the day and the third most in the game behind just the catcher and first baseman.
Chase Hodson / RHP / Senior / Richmond, Texas
Hodson entered the game in the sixth inning and quickly struck two out to finish the inning. He retired five straight to start the appearance and six of the first seven batters he faced. Finishing with five strikeouts in just four innings of work, the senior only gave up one walk and two hits. In the ninth, after allowing a single, Hodson helped turn a double play to thwart the GSU comeback.
SCORING RECAP
– Bottom 1st – With two outs, Tanner Hill singled up the middle, and Ryan Newman followed with his seventh home run of the season to put the Bobcats up, 2-0.
– Top 2nd – A single and a double put Georgia State runners at second and third base. A groundout after that plated the only GSU run of the game.
– Bottom 3rd – Cory Geisler singled with two outs, and Hill followed with a double to put both runners in scoring position. Newman came up big again with a single up the middle to plate both runs and put the Bobcats up, 4-1.
– Bottom 4th – Dylan Paul led off the at bat with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Derek Scheible.Luke Sherley knocked a big double to deep left field to bring in Paul.
– Bottom 8th – Newman reached on an error, and Cody Lovejoy entered the game to pinch run. He scored all the way from first base on a Paul double to left field. After a Scheible walk and a Sherley single to load the bases, Nick Perez singled to left field to plate Scheible and Paul. Jonathan Ortega jumped in on the action with a single up the middle to bring in Sherley. Next, Perez scored on a wild pitch to complete a five-run inning and put the Bobcats up, 10-1.
NOTES
– With two wins in the series against Georgia State, the Bobcats have surpassed their win total from last season of 24.
– Ryan Newman has 16 hits in the last eight games with his 2-for-4 performance Saturday. He now has 15 multi-hit games, six multi-RBI games and a current hitting streak of eight games, the longest current streak on the team. Saturday marked the first four-RBI game of Newman’s career.
– Dylan Paul’s 3-for-4 performance gives him three multi-hit games this season. Saturday was the second time this year Paul has scored two runs in a game and the first time since March 19 against Appalachian State.
– A 2-for-5 day for Tanner Hill gives him 16 multi-hit games this season and seven two-hit games. His two runs scored on Saturday is the first two-run game he’s had since April 15 against Little Rock. He has eight games with multiple runs scored this season.
– Luke Sherley’s 2-for-4 day gives him 14 multi-hit games this season. It was his first multi-hit game since April 23 at UL Lafayette.
– With his big two-RBI hit in the eighth, Nick Perez now has two multi-RBI games this season. His other multi-RBI game was Feb. 28 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
– Jonathan Hennigan’s eight strikeouts are the second most he has thrown this season after notching nine against Texas A&M-CC on Feb. 28 and at Sam Houston State on March 28. In his last two outings, Hennigan has thrown a combined 15 strikeouts to boost his season total to 58 strikeouts on the season.
– Chase Hodson threw five strikeouts in an appearance for the second time this season, last doing it against UCF. He now has three strikeouts or more in nine appearances this year. He also matched his season high in innings pitched with four on Saturday. He lowered his ERA from 3.12 to 2.70 and opponents are hitting just .162 against him.
NEXT UP
The Bobcats finalize the series against Georgia State with an 11 a.m. first pitch on Sunday. After that, the Bobcats will travel to Arkansas State for next weekend’s series before traveling to Austin for a midweek at Texas.
