April 21, 2006

Box Score

HUNTSVILLE - Luke Cannon and David Wood each belted solo home runs while Scott Moore picked up his seventh win of the year by tossing seven innings to beat Sam Houston State 7-2 Friday in Huntsville.

Texas State (21-21, 13-6 SLC) improved to .500 for the first time since the season's opening day, while Sam Houston State (21-19, 10-9) dropped its third straight in league play.

The Bobcats took command early, scoring two in the first inning on Cannon's RBI single to left and Merrell's RBI triple to right. In the second, Texas State added three runs, beginning with a Thomas Field hit-by-pitch followed by a Cassidy Dresch sacrifice bunt.

Field moved to third when Josh Warren moved in to play the ball, and Karl Krailo's throw from first sailed over the covering shortstop's head, scoring Field from third base.

Texas State continued the rally with pair of singles that put Kyle Jones at third and Cody Merrell at first, and Jones later scored when Wood doubled to left, putting Texas State on top 4-0.

The Bobcats took a 5-0 lead when with the bases loaded, Dawid Bednarek hit a ground ball at the second baseman. The fielder booted the ball, enabling Merrell to score from third, but Wood was put out at the plate in a run-down that ended the inning.

Sam Houston fired back in the fourth, scoring on an RBI ground out, and in the fifth, the Bearkats cut the lead to 5-2 on a wild pitch that scored center fielder Jeremy Holzbach from third.

Cannon extended Texas State's lead in the sixth with a solo homer to right, and the Bobcats went up for good in the seventh when Wood drilled a lead-off home run over the flag pole in right center to make the score 7-2.

The middle of Texas State's batting order laced Bearkat pitching, as Wood, Merrell and Jones all posted two hits, and Cannon led the team with a 3-for-5, two run, two RBI outing in the win.

Wood also had two RBIs in the game.

Moore got the win to improve to 7-3 despite striking out only three, while Justin Fiske pitched the final two innings with no runs no hits surrendered with four strike outs in the final frames.

Tim Gray took the loss for SHSU to drop to 6-2 on the year.

Texas State and Sam Houston will continue the series Saturday, with first pitch slated for 3 p.m. at Bearkat Ballpark in Huntsville. The game will be carried live on 89.9 FM, KTSW, with pregame beginning at 2:45.