Texas State Moves Past Trojans

The Bobcats and Trojans are set to continue their series at 2 p.m. April 8.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Texas State baseball team kicked off a weekend Sun Belt Conference series with a 7-3 victory Friday night over Little Rock at Gary Hogan Field.

The Bobcats (20-11, 7-3 SBC) needed just five hits to snap a three-game losing skid to the Trojans, who dropped to 10-20 overall and 3-7 in the league.

TXST initially used a three-run home run from junior Theodore Hoffman to take an early advantage, and the visitors tacked on one in the fourth and three more in the sixth to earn the series-opening triumph.

LR could only counter punch with one in the bottom of the first and two more in the fifth.

Sophomore starting pitcher Connor Reich (2-2) threw 7.0 innings to collect his second victory of the season. He conceded just three runs on seven hits, while striking out three and walking three. Sophomore Brayden Theriot logged the final two frames and did not give up a hit. 

Hoffman finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run scored. Junior Luke Sherley scored twice in the winning effort, and classmate Jared Huber used one swing of the bat in the sixth to drive in two runs.

LR starter Cory Malcom (2-2) was tagged with the loss after giving up a season-high seven runs on five hits in just 5.1 frames. He entered the game as one of just three pitchers in the Sun Belt to post a sub-2.00 ERA (1.93) so far this year, but his new ERA ballooned to 2.60 after being lit up by the Bobcats. He also allowed his first home run of the season and a career-high six walks.

Hunter Owens and Danny Mitchell, Jr. both went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored each. They were the only members of the home team with multiple hits. Cale Ridling scored LR’s only other run.

The Bobcats and Trojans are set to continue their series at 2 p.m. April 8. Texas State needs one win in the final two games of the weekend to clinch the school’s first series victory over Little Rock.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E

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Texas State……… 300 103 000 –  7  5  0

Little Rock……… 100 020 000 –  3  7  1

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Win – Reich, C. (2-2). Loss – Malcom, C. (2-2). Save – None.