March 18, 2006

Box Score

SAN MARCOS - Three Bobcats left the yard and Dan Donaldson picked up his first-career complete game as Texas State needed only seven innings to dispatch Southeastern Louisiana 13-2 Saturday at Bobcat Field.

The Bobcat win sets up a series rubber match Sunday, with first pitch slated for noon at Bobcat Field.

Southeastern (10-9, 2-3 SLC) struck first for consecutive days, as Ryan Spencer reached first base on a fielders' choice RBI bunt that allowed Kyle Ginn to score on a Bobcat throwing error, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead.

Texas State (10-13, 6-2) exploded onto the home half of the scoreboard in the third inning, scoring four runs on five hits and one SLU error.

The Bobcats opened the inning with a Dawid Bednarek single, and Bednarek scored as the next batter, Thomas Field, put down a bunt that moved Bednarek to second.

Southeastern third baseman Bryan Fritcher fired the ball to first base but the throw got away and bounded near the Bobcat Field tarp in right field, enabling Bednarek to cross the plate from first and allowing Field to reach third.

Cassidy Dresch then reached base on an infield single, but with the ground ball on the left side of the infield, Field had to hold at third leaving runners at the corners for Aaron Garza.

Garza singled into left field, scoring Field, and advanced on the throw to third base, leaving runners at second and third with no outs.

Dresch scored on the inning's first out as the next Bobcat batter, Luke Cannon, lifted a fly ball into center field for a sacrifice fly, and Cody Merrell brought home the inning's fourth run with an RBI single that pushed Garza across and gave the `Cats a 4-1 lead.

Donaldson allowed SLU to put another mark on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth, as Tony Suarez scored on a balk, but Texas State would go on top 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth as Cannon doubled to deep center field, bringing home Bednarek and Garza from the corners.

Bednarek again reached first in the fifth inning with a two-out hit by pitch, and Field followed with a two-strike triple into left field.

The Texas State sixth saw Garza lead off with a single, and Cannon posted RBIs four and five by lifting the first of three Bobcat home runs over the left-field wall, extending the Bobcat lead to 9-2.

Two batters later, Kyle Jones made it 10-2 by turning on Matt Moser's 2-2 offering to line the ball over the wall in left.

The Bobcats opened the seventh inning with a Field double into left and another infield single for Dresch. Garza then lifted a fly ball into left field deep enough to score the Bobcat shortstop from third base, and Cody Merrell ended the game with a two-run home run, again over the left-field wall, making the score 13-2. The game ended on the SLC's ten-run rule in the bottom of the seventh.

Not lost in the Bobcat offensive outpouring was the pitching performance from Donaldson, the Bobcats' junior southpaw.

Donaldson (2-2) allowed both Lion runs, but only one was earned, as the transfer from Texas A&M surrendered only four hits and fanned eight in his second win of the year. Southeastern starter Chris Province was tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 2-3 on the year.

Cannon, who extended his season- and career-long hitting streak to 14 games, went 2-for-4 in the game with a home run, a double, five RBIs and one run scored.

All nine Bobcat batters recorded hits in the game, led by Dresch's 3-for-4 ourting and Field's 3-for-3 day at the plate. Both Field and Dresch scored twice, while Garza, the club's designated hitter, crossed the plate three times in Texas State's best scoring game of the season.

Garza, Merrell, Jones and Bednarek each produced three hits in the win. Spencer led the Lions at the plate, driving in one run in a 1-for-2 day at the plate.