Bobcat Sports Midweek Update

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State football team didn’t show any aftereffects from taking ten days off for spring break.  The Bobcats returned to spring practice on Tuesday and worked on correcting some mistakes from their first scrimmage and added a few special situational plays.

 

“I think the biggest thing today was that there wasn’t any rust after having a long layoff,” said head coach Dennis Franchione. “We gave them a workout to do during spring break, and I would say that most of them did a good job with that or they would have had trouble making it through practice today. I didn’t see any of that so I was really pleased.”

 

The Bobcats began the day with individual drills to correct the previous scrimmage’s miscues.  Franchione added some two-point plays and had the team work on first downs during their team sessions.

 

“We made the two-point plays competitive by making the losing team do 25 pushups,” said Franchione. “That is the way two-point plays are. There are no do-overs or a second down after the play. Adding competition in the spring is healthy. This is a competitive game and it is a good way to finish practice.”

 

Texas State will return to practice on Wednesday and Thursday before concluding the week with its second scrimmage on Saturday morning. The Bobcats will have two more practices next week before playing their annual Maroon-Gold Spring Game on April 4 at 1 p.m.

 

“We are in the home stretch with a lot of work to accomplish,” said Franchione. “Finals are only six weeks away. We also have only six more practices, and we have a lot of things we want to get done this spring.” 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State was in control for seven innings against No. 10 Texas, largely due to the work of Montana Parsons and long ball hitting from the Bobcats. But then, in the eighth, the Longhorns broke through with a three-run homer to go on top, 5-4. An insurance run in the top of the ninth made it a 6-4 victory for Texas and dropped the Bobcats to 10-13-1 on the year.

 

The Bobcat offense helped the freshman out from the beginning. After Ben Johnson of Texas opened the game in San Marcos last year with a leadoff home run, Cory Geisler returned the favor Tuesday night. The Bobcats gave up nothing but a single in the top of the first, and then Geisler stepped up to the plate to knock his first home run of the season in the bottom of the inning.

 

Texas State kept the early pressure on with an RBI from David Paiz. Cedric Vallieres reached on a hit by pitch and Paiz followed with a double to right centerfield to plate Vallieres and give Texas State an early 2-0 lead.

 

The Longhorns answered in the third inning with a solo home run from Zane Gurwitz, but Texas State had more in store. In the fourth, freshman Derek Scheible earned a walk and scored on a single to centerfield from Luke Sherley.

 

With the Bobcats leading, 3-1, Texas knocked another home run, this one from designated hitter Michael Cantu. Texas State, however, answered with another long ball in the bottom of the fifth.Granger Studdard struck his second roundtripper of the year to put Texas State in control, 4-2.

 

Then the eighth inning came. Gurwitz knocked a two-out triple and Johnson took a walk. With two runners on, C.J. Hinojosa hit a three-run homer to left field to put the Longhorns up, 5-4. One more run in the ninth gave Texas the final score of 6-4.

 

Texas thwarted Texas State’s best opportunity at a victory over the Longhorns since a 2-1 Bobcat win in 2005 and a chance to go 2-1 against ranked opponents this season.

 

Paiz led the Bobcat bats on a 2-for-4 night while Geisler, Studdard, Colby Targun and Sherley all knocked hits as well.

 

Next up for Texas State, the Bobcats are set to take on Georgia Southern in a battle for first place in the Sun Belt Conference this weekend. Games are slated for 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 12 p.m. Sunday. 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – After producing a pair of NFL players and having two more players participate in the NFL Draft Combine, the Texas State annual Football Pro Day drew 24 NFL scouts and position coaches representing 23 teams on Monday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.

 

The Bobcats have received increased attention from NFL scouts and executives during the past two seasons after both Joplo Bartu and Darryl Morris joined the NFL ranks after signing as free agents. Earlier this spring, two more Bobcats, Craig Mager and Will Johnson were invited to compete at the NFL Draft Combine in February. Mager turned heads when he recorded the fifth-fastest time among defensive backs in the 40-yard dash.

 

On Monday, the 23 teams were on hand to watch a total of 19 former Bobcat players perform in an extensive set of measurements and physical tests that included heights, weights, arm span, hand span, vertical jump, broad jump, bench press, 40-yard dash, shuttle run, 60-yard shuttle, three-cone drill and individual position drills.

 

“This shows where we are headed,” said Michael Orakpo. “Every year that I have been here there have been more and more scouts here. It is probably tripled the number of scouts that were here in my first year in 2012. That is a testament to the type of talent that we have coming to Texas State.”

 

Mager, Johnson and Orakpo were among 12 seniors from last year’s team and seven other former alumni from the 2012 and 2013 teams performing for the scouts and coaches.

 

The other seniors from last season were Terrence Franks, Ben Ijah, Brandon Jones, David Mayo, Bradley Miller, Michael Odiari, Kris Petersen, Colby Targun and Charlie Will Tuttle.

 

They were joined by Isaiah Battle, Jamie Clavell-Head, Marcus Curry, Andy Erickson, Aaron Matthews, Shaun Rutherford and D.J. Yendrey. 

 

“I think that we all had some good times and good numbers today,” said Mayo. “It was great to spend some time with these guys. There was good competition out there as we pushed each other to perform better. But, we all want the best for each other. That is what makes this great. At the end of the day, we are all good friends and we are a team.” 

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State softball team returns to San Marcos for six straight, beginning with a single non-conference game against Southland Conference foe McNeese State Wednesday evening. First pitch at the Bobcat Softball Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.

 

Texas State is coming off of a split against UL Monroe on Monday. Freshman pitcher Randi Rupp threw her first no-hitter and first Texas State no-hitter since May 13, 2012 in game one. The Mont Belvieu, Texas native fanned 11 batters and notched her seventh shutout of the 2015 season.

 

The Bobcats are 19-13 overall and 5-3 in Sun Belt Conference play after the split against UL Monroe.

 

Texas State is under the direction of head coach Ricci Woodard who is currently in her 15th season at the helm of the Bobcats. Woodard recently won her 500th career victory against Georgia State on March 15, 2015.

 

Last Meeting
Texas State won the last meeting against the McNeese State Cowgirls by a score of 5-2 in the Southland Conference Tournament. Overall, the Bobcats own a 47-38-1 advantage over McNeese.

 

Scouting the Competition
McNeese State enters Wednesday’s non-conference single game match-up with a 23-9 overall record and perfect 9-0 in Southland Conference play.
 

The Cowgirls are led by Lauren Langner and Erika Piancastelli at the plate who are averaging .419 and .398, respectively. Piancastelli leads the Cowgirls with nine of the team’s 25 home runs this season.

 

In the circle, the Cowgirls combine for a team ERA of 1.99 with Emily Vincent posting a 0.96 ERA in 12 appearances. Rachel Smith leads the team with 58 strikeouts.

 

McNeese State is led by Joanna Hardin who is in her first season at the helm of the Cowgirls.

 

Final Details
First pitch against the Cowgirls is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Bobcat Softball Stadium. Live stats, live audio, and live video will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com. 

SAN ANTONIO – The Texas State men’s golf team wrapped up the Lone Star Invitational in San Antonio. It was the third tournament for the Bobcats in the month of March and fourth event overall.

 

Justin Newby finished as the team’s top player on the leaderboard, placing inside the top 20 for the fifth time this season. He shot a three-round total of 3-under-par 213. That is his second best 54-hole score of the year, in relation to par, next to his modern record* 16-under-par 200 he shot in El Paso back in November.

 

As a team, the Bobcats finished with a three-round total of 876, finishing 13th overall.

The team will now have a week off before hosting the Jim West Intercollegiate on April 6 in Bastrop.