April 2, 2005

Box Score

SAN MARCOS - Texas State handed Northwestern State its first Southland Conference loss of the season Saturday, using a three-run fifth inning on the way to a 5-3 victory at Bobcat Field.

Northwestern State got on the board first on Michael Flowers' RBI single that scored Brandon Morgan. Texas State answered with a single run to tie the game in the home half of the second when Luke Cannon scored on Cassidy Dresch's RBI sacrifice fly to center.

Things stayed quiet in the third, and Northwestern State regained the lead in the top of the fourth on a solo blast that cleared the left field wall for Morgan. Like the second inning, Texas State came back with another run in its half of the fourth to tie things up. This time it was Cannon lifting a fly ball into the outfield, scoring Kyle Jones on the RBI sacrifice fly.

In the fifth, Northwestern State first baseman Bobby Barbier came to the plate with the bases loaded and a chance for some two-out heroics for the Demons. Chris Jean shot two pitches across the plate for strikes and fanned Barbier on the third pitch of the at bat, leaving three on base to end the Demon fifth.

The Bobcats broke the game open in their half of the fifth, beginning with a pair of walks drawn by Doug Pearce and Dominic Ramos. Kyle Anson laid down an attempted sacrifice bunt, but the Northwestern State catcher slipped out of his crouch and fumbled the baseball, leaving the bases loaded with no outs as Anson reached on the error. Nolan Mast then hammered a ground ball through the right side for an RBI single that scored Pearce from third.

Trailing 3-2 with the bases loaded, Northwestern State got a chopped ground ball from Jones and turned the one-two-three double play, forcing Ramos out at the plate and leaving runners at second and third for the Bobcats. A wild pitch then brought Anson across the plate and put Mast on third base. With Mast at third, Cannon came to bat and singled through the middle to plate the Bobcats' third run of the inning.

The combination of Chris Jean and Jarod Garza kept the Demons off of the scoreboard through the game's final four innings, enabling the Bobcats to improve to 5-3 in Southland Conference play and 20-11 overall. The loss was the first SLC setback for Northwestern State, dropping the Demons to 7-1 in the conference and 22-10 on the year.

Jean pushed his record to 4-3 by pitching 7.1 innings with seven strike outs, and Garza completed the games final inning and two thirds to gain his first save of the season. Dereck Cloeren picked up the loss for Northwestern State, dropping his record to 3-2.

Cannon's two RBIs led the Bobcats, while Mast and Dresch also knocked in runs for Texas State. In all, five Bobcats scored a single run in the game, and five Texas State batters recorded hits on the afternoon.

Texas State and Northwestern State will play the rubber match on Sunday, with first pitch between the Bobcats and Demons set for 1 p.m., at Bobcat Field. Sunday's game can be heard live on KTSW, 89.9 FM, as well as world wide on the Internet via College Sports Pass at www.txstatebobcats.com.