March 7, 2006

Box Score

ROUND ROCK - Heath Keel and Aaron Garza took turns going deep with back-to-back fourth-inning home runs, while Kyle Gembler picked up his first collegiate save in a 6-4 win over No. 15 Texas A&M Tuesday at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

Justin Fiske picked up the win for Texas State (6-11), pitching 2.2 innings with two strike outs and a run surrendered to improve to 2-1 on the year.

Texas A&M (13-3) was plagued by ten runners left on base, as relief pitcher Matt Ueckert dropped to 3-1 with the loss.

The Bobcats jumped on top in the second inning, starting with David Wood's lead-off double down the right-field line.

Wood moved to third when Kyle Jones legged out an infield single, and the `Cats took a 1-0 lead when Casey Guest recorded his first collegiate RBI on a single through the right side to plate Wood.

Jones would steal second, bringing Thomas Field to the plate, and the Bobcat freshman shortstop delivered with a shallow single into right that brought Jones around and made the score 2-0.

Texas A&M evened the count in the fourth inning tying the game with a Craig Stinson RBI bunt single and an RBI fielders' choice from Adam Hale.

Texas State would recapture the lead for good in the home-half of the fourth, starting with a lead-off single by Jones.

Guest would reach next on a fielders' choice bunt. On the play, Aggie catcher Josh Stinson recovered in time to attempt a throw to second, but Jones, who took an extended lead on the play, beat the throw to put runners at first and second for Keel.

Keel took a ball on the first pitch of the at bat, but on the second, the Bobcat senior turned on Ueckert's offering and hammered the ball over the left-center field wall, putting Texas State on top 5-2.

Garza then came to the plate, and after also taking a ball on the at-bat's first pitch, the Austin-native ripped a ball high into the Round Rock sky, landing the homer in nearly the exact same spot as Keel's to put the `Cats on top 6-2.

Texas A&M would not go away, plating runs in both the seventh and the eighth, and after Gembler got the first out of the ninth inning on a ground out to Wood, Texas A&M second baseman Austin Boggs reached second when his pop up to center slipped out of Keel's glove on the third Bobcat error in the game.

Spencer Jackson, the next Aggie batter, hit a sharp ground ball into Gembler's mitt for the second out, and Gembler forced Stinson to ground out to Field at short to end the game.

Texas State used four pitchers in the game, as Jason Baca tossed an inning and starter Ryan Bennett went four.

Jones was the only Bobcat to hit safely twice, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Keel drove in three on his three-run home run in a 1-for-4 day, while Garza, Wood and Guest also crossed the plate in the two-run win over the 15th-ranked Aggies.

A&M outfielder John Infante led the Aggie offense in a 2-for-3 day, while Blake Stouffer and Hale each had RBIs in the contest for Texas A&M.

Texas State will travel next to Thibodaux, La., for a three-game Southland Conference series with Nicholls State. Friday's game gets underway at 6:30 p.m., while the `Cats and Colonels conclude the series at Didier Field with afternoon games Saturday and Sunday.