April 5, 2005

Box Score

AUSTIN - Steven Siers made his first collegiate start Tuesday night and pitched 5.2 innings, but Texas State was held to just four hits and a pair of runs in a 3-2 loss at No.-1 ranked Texas.

The Bobcats jumped on Texas starter Kenn Kasparek, beginning with a lead-off single by Dominic Ramos. Nolan Mast followed that with a single of his own, putting Ramos on second, and Kyle Anson laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Ramos to third and Mast to second base. The Bobcats got on the board first, scoring on a Kyle Jones ground out that scored Ramos from third.

Texas answered in the home half of the first inning, plating one run on Seth Johnston's RBI single that scored Drew Stubbs.

With the game square at 1-1, both teams' freshman pitchers took over. Kasparek retired the next 18 Bobcat batters he faced, while Siers shut down the Longhorn offense until the bottom of the fifth.

In the fifth, Texas scored on a Siers wild pitch, followed by another run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Thomas Incaviglia, making the score 3-1 through six.

The Texas State offense came around in the eighth. The Bobcats pulled within one run when with two outs, Ramos put a laser into right center field and got to third with a two-out triple. Mast tailed the Ramos triple with a smashed ground ball up the middle, bringing Ramos across the plate and making the score 3-2.

Texas reliever Clayton Stewart got Anson to fly out to right, but the Bobcats were within one heading into the bottom of the eighth. Jason Baca, who came on in relief of Siers in the sixth, retired two straight Longhorn batters after Teagarden doubled with one out.

Texas closer J. Brent Cox came on to finish the ballgame for the Longhorns, retiring Jones, Jose Rodriguez and Cody Ross in order to gain his seventh save of the season.

Kasparek got the win for the Longhorns, going six innings and allowing a single run and a pair of Bobcat hits. The freshman righty pushed his record to 3-0 on the season. Siers took the loss for the `Cats, giving up three Texas runs and six Longhorn hits, dropping his record to 1-1 this season.

Ramos and Mast were the only Bobcats with hits, both going two-for-four, and Ramos scored both Bobcat runs on the night. Jones and Mast each recorded an RBI in the loss.

The loss dropped the Bobcats to 20-13 on the year, while the Longhorns improved to 27-5 with the win.

Texas State steps back into Southland Conference play, beginning Friday at Texas-Arlington. First pitch between the Mavericks and Bobcats is slated for 7 p.m., at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington.