Offensive Boom Overwhelms Troy

by, Joshua Flanagan

Texas State made a statement with an 11-6 victory over Troy to open the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament, scoring nine runs in the final four innings to run away from the Trojans. The win puts Texas State in the winners’ bracket, and they are set to face the winner between No. 1 UL Lafayette and No. 8 Arkansas State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Seniors Tanner Hill and Cory Geisler led the Bobcats offensively, each striking a home run. The team posted 15 hits and scored 11 runs with 10 RBIs to bombard the Trojans. Hill started from the first inning after Jonathan Ortega led off the game with a walk. Hill sent out his 15th home run of the season to put the Bobcats up 2-0 early.

While the Trojans were able to score two runs in the second and two more in the fourth, it was Texas State’s offensive onslaught in the back half of the game that propelled the Bobcats to victory. Meanwhile, Lucas Humpal went eight innings on the mound, only giving up four hits. His eight innings gave him 364 innings pitched in his career for a new Texas State record.

While Hill jumped it off in the first inning, everyone got in on the action at the end of the game. Hill, Ryan Newman and Geisler each finished with three hits apiece while Granger Studdard and Dylan Paul each struck two.

After tying it in the seventh inning, Texas State posted three runs in the eighth to pull away from Troy. With two outs, Geisler, Luke Sherley and Derek Scheible hit three consecutive singles to help the Bobcats score three runs after Studdard and Newman started the innings strong. After that, four runs in the ninth put the game out of reach.

The Bobcats play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

WHO STOOD OUT

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

The senior started off with a two-run homer in the first inning to put the Bobcats up early. He followed that with a double in the sixth inning. Once on base, he came all the way home on a Granger Studdard single up the middle to pull the Bobcats within one run, 4-3. He knocked in two runs, scored three times and had two extra-base hits in the game, finishing 3-for-5.

Cory Geisler / OF/LHP / Senior / Spring, Texas

Geisler went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs on two singles and his first home run of the season. He helped spark the Bobcats in their big eighth inning with a two-out single to plate a run. He also scored later in the inning to push Texas State’s lead to 7-4. He added to a strong day and a big Bobcat lead with a two-run homer in the ninth, his first of the year.

SCORING RECAP

• Top 1st – After Jonathan Ortega led off with a walk and Mickey Scott sacrifice bunted him to second, Tanner Hill blasted his 15th home run of the season to put the Bobcats up 2-0. (2 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base)
• Bottom 2nd – Troy knocked a single and a double. With two runners on base, consecutive groundouts tied the game, 2-2. (2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base)
• Bottom 4th – The Trojans went ahead on a solo home run and knocked another homer after that for a 4-2 lead. (2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base)
• Top 6th – Hill knocked his second hit of the game, a double. Granger Studdard followed with a base knock to drive in Hill and pull the Bobcats within one, 4-3. (1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on base)
• Top 7th – Cory Geisler led the inning with a walk and was sacrifice bunted to second by Luke Sherley, his team-leading ninth sac bunt of the season. After Geisler went to third on a groundout, Ortega legged out an error at third to allow Geisler to score and tie the game, 4-4. (1 run, 0 hits, 2 errors, 1 left on base)
• Top 8th – Studdard knocked his second hit of the day, and a Ryan Newman hit drove him all the way to third. Geisler followed with an RBI single through the left side to bring in Studdard and put the Bobcats on top, 5-4. The Bobcats kept it going with back-to-back singles from Sherley and Derek Scheible. Scheible’s hit drove in two to put Texas State up 7-4. (3 runs, 5 hits, 1 error, 2 left on base)
• Top 9th – Hill knocked a single, his third hit of the day, and scored on a big triple from Dylan Paul to push the lead to 8-4. Newman kept it going with a shot up the middle to plate Cody Lovejoy, pinch running for Paul and put Texas State up 9-4. Then Geisler blasted his first home run of the season to add two more runs to the Bobcat tally.
• Bottom 9th – Two singles and a double led to two runs for Troy. (2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base)

NOTES

–       With eighth innings pitched Wednesday, Lucas Humpal is now the all-time leader in innings pitched at Texas State with 364 innings thrown in his career.

–       The first-inning home run from Tanner Hill pulls him into a first place tie for the lead in home runs in the Sun Belt Conference. He now has 15 this year. It was a two-run shot which gave him his 11th multi-RBI game.

–       In the second inning, Ryan Newman hit his second triple of the season and his first extra-base hit since May 7 against Georgia State. He knocked another hit in the eighth inning to give him 17 multi-hit games this year.

–       Cory Geisler knocked his first hit since May 7 against Georgia State. This one was a single in the top of the fifth. He hit another single in the eighth to bring in Granger Studdard and put the Bobcats on top, 5-4. He now has nine multi-hit games this season. He capped the game with a ninth-inning home run, his first of the season.

–       With a double in the sixth inning, Hill made it 19 multi-hit games this year. It’s also his 18th double on the season and 33rd extra-base hit. He added a third hit in the ninth inning for his eighth three-hit game of the year and his first since April 29 vs. Troy.

–       Granger Studdard knocked his second hit of the game in the eighth inning for his 18th multi-hit game of the season.

–       With his two-RBI single in the eighth inning, Derek Scheible now has three multi-RBI games.

–       Dylan Paul knocked his second hit of the day in the ninth inning, making it count. He blasted his third triple of the season to drive in Hill and give him seven multi-hit games this year.

–       Wednesday’s victory is Texas State’s fifth consecutive tournament-opening win.

NEXT UP

The Bobcats will play the winner of No. 1 UL Lafayette and No. 8 Arkansas State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament. The winner will get Friday off before playing Saturday.