Bobcat Sports Midweek Review

 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Fourteen strikeouts by freshman pitcher Randi Rupp led the Texas State softball team to a 1-0 shutout over Southland Conference foe Incarnate Word Wednesday evening. Texas State improves to 22-15 on the year and Rupp threw her 21st complete game and eighth shutout of the season. Her eight shutouts now leads the nation in that category.

 

Rupp matched her career-high in strikeouts and it marked the fifth game this season that she has struck out double-digit batters.

 

The Bobcats spread out eight hits over the course of the evening, led by senior Kortney Koroll with three of them. Koroll’s last hit of the evening was a line drive out to left center field that she extended into a double. Kelli Baker, Ariel Ortiz, Courtney Harris, Katie Doerre, and Sara Rupp all collected a hit for Texas State.

 

Ortiz’s hit extended her hitting streak to a career-high eight games and her on base streak to a career-high 11 contests.

 

Harris scored the lone run for the Bobcats on a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning. Harris has now hit six home runs this season and has put Texas State just seven home runs away from matching the all-time program high of 53 in a single season.

 

Texas State will remain at home this Friday evening at 6 p.m. against Texas. The Bobcats will then return the favor Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. start against the Longhorns in Austin, Texas. Live stats, live video, and live audio will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com. Fans can purchase tickets for Friday’s game against the Longhorns at www.txstatebobcats.com/tickets or by calling the Ticket Office at 512-245-2272. 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State and Baylor are set to meet for a three-game series this weekend with a Thursday game in San Marcos at 6 p.m. and a 6:30 p.m. Friday game and 3 p.m. Saturday game in Waco, Texas. It will be the first ever full three-game weekend series between the teams.

 

Series Info: Texas State (12-15-1) vs. Baylor (12-16)

Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas; Baylor Ballpark – Waco, Texas

Dates: Thursday, April 2; Friday-Saturday, April 3-4

Times: Thursday – 6 p.m. | Friday – 6:30 p.m. | Saturday – 3 p.m.

 

Probable Pitching Matchups

Thursday: #21 RHP Lucas Humpal (4-2, 5.55 ERA) vs. #22 LHP Daniel Castano (2-3, 1.82 ERA)

Friday: #36 RHP Scott Grist (1-2, 3.33 ERA) vs. #27 RHP Drew Tolson (1-5, 4.44 ERA)

Saturday: #27 RHP Jeremy Hallonquist (2-0, 2.81 ERA) vs. TBA

 

The Series

The Bobcats and Baylor have played 66 games in their all-time series with the Bears having the advantage, 19-47. Last season, the teams met in back-to-back midweek games and split with Texas State winning in San Marcos, 2-0, to give Head Coach Ty Harrington his 500th career victory.

 

The entire game was scoreless except for the bottom of the eighth inning. Garrett Mattlage scored on a single from Cameron Friess and Cody Lovejoy came in on a single from Tyler Pearson to secure the victory. Chad Young went 6.1 innings with only four hits allowed for the Bobcats while Andrew Boes, Cory Geisler and Hunter Lemke finished off the game. Geisler earned the win while Lemke picked up his ninth save of the season.

 

On the Bears

Baylor has struggled a bit this season, coming into the weekend at 12-16 overall and just 4-5 in the Big 12. On the road, the Bears are 2-7 this year, but 10-6 at home.

 

The Bears are coming off a tough 11-0 loss to Houston, a team the Bobcats beat once already this season. They have lost their last two, but won the three previous to that and five of their previous six before this recent two-game skid.

 

Texas State will have to be ready for leading hitter Logan Brown. He has 29 hits on the season with four doubles and a triple and 11 RBI. Kameron Esthay also has 11 RBI to tie for the team lead but has done it much more efficiently. He has 18 hits: three doubles, a triple and a homer and is slugging .406. Three Bears have 20 hits or more while nine others have 12 hits or more this year.

 

The team’s pitching staff has a 5.00 ERA on the season with 163 strikeouts. Their opponents own a 3.38 ERA with 225 strikeouts on the year. Teams are hitting .286 this season against Baylor and in the .270s against the team’s two listed starters: Daniel Castano (.274) and Drew Tolson (.272).

 

On the Bobcats

 

Texas State enters the weekend coming off a loss as well, a close 5-4 loss to I-35 Rival UTSA in San Antonio on Tuesday night. However, the Bobcats scored all four of their runs on four solo home runs with two from Cedric Vallieres. Granger Studdard and Cory Geisler also had home runs in the game. Studdard’s bat has heated up with four home runs in the last seven games.

 

In fact, Studdard is hitting .359 over the last 10 games with eight RBI, four doubles and four home runs. He isn’t along with the hot bat. Vallieres and freshman shortstop Luke Sherley are both at .333 in the last 10 games and have combined for 12 RBI in that span.

 

The squad will have to continue to hit against Baylor, but the pitching staff will have to show up too. Jeremy Hallonquist picked up a big victory against Georgia Southern on Sunday to secure the top spot in the Sun Belt Conference for the Bobcats. It was his first weekend start for Texas State, and he tallied six strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Lucas Humpal and Scott Grist will be looking to rebound off a tough week last week.

 

A Look Ahead

After Baylor, the Bobcats will host Incarnate Word on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark before taking to the road for more Sun Belt Conference action at UALR. From there, Texas State will host UTSA for the third meeting of the season and then welcome UL Lafayette to Bobcat Ballpark for the weekend series. 

NEW ORLEANS –Sophomore thrower Julie Lange earned her first ever Sun Belt Conference Athlete of the Week honor this week for outstanding performances at the Texas Relays and Bobcat Invitational last week.

 

The sophomore from Castroville made four throws on the week, two in shot put and two in discus, and set career best in each event.

 

Her discus throw at the Bobcat Invitational was a career-high 53.74 meters (176-4) to vault atop the Sun Belt Conference. The career best puts her seventh on the NCAA West Outdoor Qualifying List.

 

In shot put at the Texas Relays, Lange threw a personal best 15.36 meters (50-4.75) to take the top spot in the SBC in yet another event. The throw puts her 19th on the NCAA West Outdoor Qualifying list.

 

Lange and the rest of the Bobcats will travel to Waco on Friday to compete at the Baylor Invitational. 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Tickets for the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Softball Tournament are now on sale and available to the public! The SBC Tournament is scheduled to begin May 6 and will run through May 9 at the Bobcat Softball Stadium.

 

Season ticket holders will have first priority to purchase their same season tickets until April 28. After that date, all seats still available will be open for purchase. Any student who belongs to a Sun Belt Conference institution can get into any game at any time with a valid student ID.

 

2015 SBC Tournament Pricing:

Tournament Pass (Valid for all tournament games – Wed to Sat)

·         Reserved All Session Pass: $40

·         Reserved Youth All Session Pass: $25

·         General Admission All Session Pass: $25

 

Single Day Tickets

·         Reserved: $10

·         Reserved Youth: $7

·         General Admission: $7

 

Tickets can be purchased online at www.txstatebobcats.com/tickets, by calling 512-245-2272, or by visiting the Mark & Linda Smith Athletic Ticket Office. 

 

SAN ANTONIO – Cedric Vallieres opened the scoring in the first inning with a solo home run for Texas State, but the Bobcats went quiet until the sixth inning after that. After giving up two runs to UTSA in the bottom of the first and three more in the fourth and fifth innings, Texas State scored struck a home run in the sixth and belted two homers in the eight to come up just short against UTSA, 5-4.

 

Vallieres and Granger Studdard were impressive from the plate for the Bobcats, both going 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk. Vallieres finished with two RBI and two runs scored while Studdard tallied an RBI and a run. The third home for the Bobcats came from Cory Geisler, who was one of three other Bobcats to tally a hit in the game.

 

On the mound, Pasquale Mazzoccoli took over in the sixth inning and only gave up one hit with four strikeouts the rest of the way for the Bobcats. His work from the mound settled the team down, and they began their comeback, down 5-2, after solo homers from Vallieres and Studdard.

 

Studdard gave the Bobcats their second run of the night after Vallieres’s first-inning home run. It was Studdard’s fourth roundtripper of the season, and his fourth in the past seven games, to make it 5-2 in the sixth inning.

 

Sticking with the home run theme of the night for Texas State, the Bobcats knocked back-to-back bombs in the eighth inning. Geisler led off with his second of the season and Vallieres followed with his second of the night and his team-leading sixth of the year to close the gap to just 5-4 in favor of UTSA.

 

Unfortunately, after holding the Roadrunners without a run in the bottom of the eighth, the Bobcats could not close the gap to stay alive in the game in the ninth inning.

 

Texas State is set to meet Baylor next in a three-game series this weekend. The Bobcats will host the Bears Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark before traveling to Waco for the final two games of the series at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday. 

This Bobcat Sports Midweek Review is courtesy of Texas State Athletics.