Bobcats Fall To Aggies In Front Of Near-Record Crowd
“It’s been unbelievable all season,” Coach Ty Harrington said. “I’ve been here for a long time, and you start to look around at what this crowd was tonight. A lot of it has to do with the Aggies in town, but a lot of it had to do with our crowd and our fans.”
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team dropped a 9-3 decision to Texas A&M Tuesday evening inside Bobcat Ballpark. The game was televised regionally on Spectrum Sports Channel 323.
The Bobcat faithful came out in full force, as the Ballpark welcomed 2,952 fans. The attendance was the second-largest in school history, bested only by last week’s 3,017 figure against Texas.
TXST (16-9) saw its five-game win streak halted but still owns a 13-3 record in March. The maroon and gold initially took a 3-0 lead after three innings and held a 3-1 advantage going into the sixth.
The Aggies (17-9) plated three runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead and tacked on two insurance tallies in both the eighth and ninth.
Sophomore Ryan Newman (2-for-3) had two of the Bobcats’ four hits. Junior Theodore Hoffman hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season and finished the day with three RBIs.
Junior Cam Baird threw a career-high 5.1 innings and left after conceding three runs on six hits. He struck out four and issued just one walk. Sophomore Anthony Pagano (2-2) suffered the loss after allowing the next two runs on one hit in 0.1 innings. Six additional Bobcat pitchers saw time on the mound.
Nick Choruby was 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI to lead the Aggies. Braden Shewmake, Joel Davis and Blake Kopetsky all had two hits. Kopetsky drove in two runs and Davis scored twice.
Aggie reliever Cason Sherrod (2-1) earned the win after tossing 3.0 near perfect innings. He did not give up a run and only conceded one hit. He was able to work around four walks with a pair of strikeouts.
Starter John Doxakis was pulled after giving up three runs on three hits in 4.0 frames.
The Bobcats will now welcome Arkansas State to San Marcos for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series. The two teams will meet March 31-April 2. Arkansas State is 4-0 all-time against Texas State inside Bobcat Ballpark.
TEXAS STATE COACH TY HARRINGTON
Opening Statement…
“(Texas A&M) pieced together some good at-bats. We couldn’t get the out we needed with two outs in that sixth inning. They were able to get the two out hit, and that’s probably what separated the game at that point and time. That’s baseball sometimes. If we get out of that inning, then it’s a tie game. But you have to make pitches when you need them, and they were able to land a ball right in between three guys when they needed it. We needed to rebound offensively and on the mound, but they were able to keep offensive pressure on us. They had great at-bats in the last six to nine outs of the game. Every once in awhile you get punched in the stomach. When you do that, it’s what you do the next day. What you do in the next moment is almost as critical or important not only in growth but also in who you are and what you want to become individually and as a team. When they walk into the gates tomorrow (for practice), they need to be ready.”
On Cam Baird’s performance on the mound…
“I thought he was good. We were keeping a close reign on him. That’s why we went and got him when we did. We were confident the guys we were going to run out there were going to do well. I was pleased with Cam’s performance. That was a bright spot for us tonight. We’ll reevaluate where that is and what that does for him as far as next week and maybe this weekend.”
On the energy from the crowd…
“It’s been unbelievable all season. I’ve been here for a long time, and you start to look around at what this crowd was tonight. A lot of it has to do with the Aggies in town, but a lot of it had to do with our crowd and our fans. Our players like that, and I’m proud that they have that. Hopefully, this continues to grow because our players play into that energy level.”
On wearing blue laces to help raise awareness for colon cancer…
“I appreciate (Texas A&M coach) Rob (Childress) wearing the blue laces tonight. That shows the kind of class that A&M has in their staff. It starts with their head coach. When I called Rob and told him that we were going to do it for colon cancer awareness, he was right on it. That shows the class of those student-athletes over there. They don’t have to do that. My hopes for tonight is it helps people recognize the importance of this disease. Maybe somebody sat in the stands tonight and recognized what this was for. Maybe somebody watched it on TV and saw the student-athletes. Maybe if it’s just one person that goes to the doctor and gets checked, then it was all worth it. The only prevention we have for colon cancer is early detection. Maybe somebody leaves the ballpark tonight because of these young men and goes and gets a colonoscopy. Maybe they saved somebody’s life tonight.”
Score by Innings R H E
——————————————-
Texas A&M……….. 000 104 022 – 9 13 0
Texas State……… 102 000 000 – 3 4 0
——————————————-
Win – SHERROD (2-1). Loss – Pagano, A. (2-2). Save – None.
