Bobcat Baseball, Late Rally Falls Just Short

by, Joshua Flanagan, TXST Assistant Sports Information Director

SAN MARCOS – Texas State rallied with four runs combined in the eighth and ninth innings, but fell just short against Little Rock Saturday, falling 7-6. The loss drops the Bobcats to 21-16 on the season and 9-6 in Sun Belt Conference play.

Despite holding Ryan Scott, the Sun Belt’s leading hitter and second best hitter in the country coming into the weekend, without a hit, Little Rock knocked 12 hits to score seven runs against the Bobcats. All seven came in the second and third innings, but the Bobcats did good work in the final six innings.

Texas State held Little Rock to just five hits and no runs the rest of the game while scoring two runs in the fifth, three in the eighth and one in the ninth to come up short.

WHO STOOD OUT

Tanner Hill / C/1B / Senior / San Marcos, Texas

The senior from San Marcos went 4-for-5 to finish this weekend’s series 8-for-13 (.615). He knocked in an RBI in the ninth inning and scored in the eighth as part of Texas State’s rally. Saturday marked his second four-hit game of the season.

Jacob Almendarez / OF / Freshman / Pearland, Texas

Almendarez made his third start of the season and tallied the first multi-hit game of his young career. He finished 2-for-2 with a walk and added three putouts in centerfield.

Anthony Pagano / LHP / Freshman / Humble, Texas

The freshman from Humble finished the game for the Bobcats, pitching the final three innings. He struck out four to double his season total and only gave up two hits with no walks and no runs in his sixth appearance of the season. He dropped his season ERA down a full three runs.

Theodore Hoffman / OF / Sophomore / Brenham, Texas

Hoffman was 2-for-4 with a run scored Saturday and laid down a nice sacrifice bunt to push runners into scoring position in the ninth inning.

SCORING RECAP

–       Top 2^nd – A double and a single led off the inning followed by a walk. With bases loaded, Keegan Meyn knocked a single through the left side to plate one. A fielder’s choice after that brought in another run to put Little Rock up 2-0. Next, another single for Little Rock plates one more run with an error in getting the ball to the infield allowed one more for a 4-0 Trojan lead. (4 runs, 4 hits, 1 error, 1 left on base)

–       Top 3^rd – Fielder’s choice and a single put two runners on base for Little Rock. Meyn followed with his first career home run to put the Trojans up, 7-0. (3 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base)

–       Bottom 5^th – Luke Sherley led off with a single and went to third on a base knock from Jacob Almendarez. With runners at the corners, Jonathan Ortega knocked a single to right field to plate Sherly and put the Bobcats on the board, 7-1. With Almendarez at third, Ryan Newman brought him in with a sacrifice fly to close the gap to 7-2. (2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base)

–       Bottom 8^th – Tanner Hill and Theodore Hoffman hit back-to-back singles and both advanced a base on a balk to put runners at second and third base. Mickey Scott and Luke Sherley followed with back-to-back walks to score a run. Then Hoffman scored on a passed ball and Scott on a wild pitch to bring the Bobcats within two, 7-5. (3 hits, 2 runs, 0 errors, 2 left on base)

–       Bottom 9^th – Newman draws a walk to leadoff and scores after back-to-back singles from Granger Studdard and Hill. (1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on base)

NOTES

–       Tanner Hill tallied four hits Saturday for his second four-hit game of the season and 10^th multi-hit game of the year.

–       Jacob Almendarez made his third start of the season and registered the first multi-hit game of his career.

–       With a season-high four strikeouts Saturday, Anthony Pagano doubled his season total.

–       Theodore Hoffman struck two hits for his eighth multi-hit game of the season and his fifth two-hit game.

–       The Bobcats combined to force an 0-for-5 day for SBC-leading hitter Ryan Scott with Quinn Atwood striking him out in one of the at-bats.

NEXT UP

The Bobcats start a five-game road trip this week, traveling to College Station on Tuesday to face No. 3 Texas A&M at 6 p.m. After that, Texas State will play its second road series in conference play, traveling to UL Lafayette for the weekend series before facing Texas in the following midweek game.