March 31st, 2008
Bobcats take series against Sam Houston State

By MICHAEL WRIGHT
Sports Reporter

HUNTSVILLE –  The Texas State (14-9,6-3) baseball team took 2 of 3 from their Southland Conference rival Sam Houston State (15-11,5-4) over the weekend at Sanders Stadium.  With the win, Texas State is tied for 1^st with UTSA in the West Division of the Southland Conference.  Texas State, Sam Houston and UTSA all entered the weekend in a 3-way tie with 4-2 conference records.  Sunday’s game marked the 80^th meeting between the Bobcats and the Bearkats.   Texas State now leads the all-time series by six games, 43-37 including a victory in the season opener at the Al Ogltree Classic in Edinburg where the `Cats took a 5-4 victory.   Sam Houston took the series opener when the Bearkats hit a homer in the 7^th inning to win 4-2.  The Bearkats won despite a great pitching performance by Mike Hart who pitched his 2^nd complete game of the season giving up just 4 runs on 5 hits.  Game two was played on Saturday.  The Bobcats held off a late Bearkat rally to win it 8-7.  Freshman Bret Atwood provided the fireworks, going 2 for 2 at the plate, knocking in 2 runs while scoring one.  In game 3 on Sunday, Bearkat errors helped the Bobcats get a 13-6 victory.  Paul Goldschmidt collected 4 hits and 3 RBI’s and Zach Tritz improved his record to 5-0.  

Texas State opened things up in the 2^nd inning of the game one with 2 runs on 2 hits.  Jonathan Farrow scored the first run on a Elliot Babcock groundout.  Bret Atwood was up next and followed up with a single scoring Jerry Cervantes.  With Mike Hart on the mound for the Bobcats, Sam Houston could only collect one hit through the first 2 innings but they only needed one more hit in the 3^rd to bring in a run to make the score 2-1.   The Bearkats tied it up in the 5^th 2-2, scoring a run on 1 hit.   The Bobcats managed to get only one base runner in the 6^th and 7^th before Sam Houston got a 2 run homer in their half of the 7^th to take a 4-2 lead.   The Bobcats tried to comeback but hit into a double play in the 8^th and got one runner on in the 9^th before making the final out to end the game.  Hart (2-2) takes the loss but pitched well.  He went 8 innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits while striking out 8.  Paul Goldschmidt (2 for 4), Cervantes (1 for 4, 1 run), Babcock (1 for 4, 1 RBI) and Atwood (1 for 3, 1 RBI) led the team from the plate.  

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
——————————————-
Texas State……… 020 000 000 –  2  6  1
Sam Houston St…… 001 010 20X –  4  5  0

In game 2, Texas State was held hitless for the first 2 innings and were behind 1-0 entering the 3^rd where they put up 4 big runs.   Bret Atwood pushed in the first run when he singled to right to bring in Lance Loftin to tie the game.  Atwood then scored along with Adam Witek when Paul Goldschmidt hit his 8^th home run of the season to center field to bring the score to 4-1.  Sam Houston hit into a double play to end their 3^rd inning.  Texas State came back in the 4^th and put up 2 more points without recording a base hit.   The bases were loaded with 2 walks and a hit by pitcher.  Atwood earned another walk to score Ben Theriot for the 1^st run of the inning.  Thomas Field worked another walk to bring in Loftin for the 2^nd run.  The Bobcats left 2 runners on base after getting 3 straight outs after that.  Sam Houston got a hit in the 4^th but could not score and the score was 6-1 after 4 innings.   The ‘Cats got another run in the 6^th when Jerry Cervantes homered to left center.  Sam Houston tightened the game in the 7^th when they scored 5 runs on 6 hits to bring the score to 7-6 Texas State.   The Bearkats then tied the score at 7 in the 8^th with 1 run on 2 hits.  The Bobcats took the lead again in the 9^th when Witek singled to bring in Field. Josh Walter set Sam Houston down in order in their half of the 9^th to record the victory.  Walter is now 3-1 on the season after pitching 2 scoreless innings and only giving up 1 base hit and striking out 2 batters.  Steven Siers also pitched a great game going 6 innings giving up only 2 runs and striking out 5.  The Bobcats were led offensively by Field (2 for 4, 2 runs, 1 RBI), Goldschmidt (1 for 5, 1 run, 3 RBI’s), Cervantes (1 for 4, 1 run, 1 RBI), Loftin (1 for 3, 2 runs) and Atwood (2 for 2, 1 run, 2 RBI’s). 

Score by Innings                               R  H  E
——————————————-
Texas State………      004 201 001 –  8   9   2
Sam Houston St…… 010 000 510 –  7  15   0

Sam Houston scored first in the 3^rd game of the series which would decide who was going to be tied for 1^st place in the division when they put up a run in the 2^nd inning.  Texas State tied it up at one in the 4^th when Paul Goldschmidt scored on a Laurn Randell’s groundout.  The ‘Cats kept the runs coming when they put up 4 runs on 5 hits in the 5^th.  Lance Loftin started it off by hitting a homer to left field.  Thomas Field knocked in the 2^nd run of the inning when he singled to bring in Elliot Babcock.   Goldschmidt recorded another RBI when he hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Bret Atwood.   Field scored the last run of the inning after Ben Theriot singled.  After  5 innings, the Bobcats were up 5-1.  The Bearkats scored 3 runs on 4 hits in the 6^th to tighten the score to 5-4.  The score was still 5-4 entering the 8^th inning.  In the 8^th, the Bobcats took advantage of Bearkat mistakes to put up 8 runs on only 4 hits.  With two outs and the bases loaded, Adam Witek was hit by a pitch to score Loftin.  Goldschmidt followed that with a double to bring in Atwood and Babcock.  Both runs were unearned.   Theriot followed that with a single to bring in 2 more runs when Goldschmidt and Witek scored.  Randell hit another single to plate Theriot which was scored as another unearned run.   Two more walks loaded the bases for Babcock who knocked in two more runs with a single scoring Jerry Cervantes and Randell.  Both of these were also unearned.  The next batter was finally throw out to end the inning with 2 runners still on base.  Sam Houston scored 2 in their half of the 8^th to bring the score after 8 innings to 13-6 Texas State.  The Bearkats got one runner on the 9^th but the next two batters popped out to end the game.  Zack Tritz (5-0) pitched 7 innings, giving up 3 runs while striking to 4 to win his 5^th game of the year.  Goldschmidt (4 for 5, 2 runs, 3 RBI’s), Theriot (2 for 5, 1 run, 3 RBI’s), Randell (2 for 5, 1 run, 2 RBI’s),  Loftin (1 for 3, 2 runs, 1 RBI), Babcock (2 for 4, 2 runs, 2 RBI’s) and Atwood (1 fo5 , 2 runs) led the team from the plate. 

Score by Innings                               R  H  E
——————————————-
Texas State………      000 140 080 – 13 15  1
Sam Houston St…… 010 003 020 –  6    9  3
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Texas State will play the TCU Horned Frogs for part two of the home-and-away series. First pitch at Bobcat Field is slated for 6:30 p.m.