May 18, 2006

Box Score

SAN ANTONIO - Luke Cannon went 3-for-5 with two triples, a double and a run scored, while David Wood added a pair of singles in a 2-for-4 outing as Texas State held off Texas-San Antonio 5-3 Thursday at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio.

Texas State (27-27, 19-9 SLC) earned a second-place split with the Roadrunners in the SLC standings, while UTSA (35-18, 19-9) dropped only its fifth decision on its home field this year.

Wood also scored a run in the Texas State win, while Cassidy Dresch, Dawid Bednarek, Thomas Field and Pat Crumpton notched RBIs in the win. UTSA was led at the plate by Michael McKennon, who went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.

The Roadrunners found the scoreboard first, scoring two in the bottom of the opening inning on RBI base hits from McKennon and Lee Todesco to take a 2-0 lead.

Texas State got one back in the top of the second, as Cody Merrell and Wood led off with singles in the frame. Both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, and Merrell scored one batter later on a Bednarek ground-out that made the score 2-1.

The Bobcats threatened in the third inning, as Kyle Jones drew a walk and looked to score on a triple to the right-field gap by Cannon.

The ball glanced off of Phillip Allen's glove in right but was immediately scooped up by the center fielder, tossed to the cut off, and fired home to punch out Jones and preserve the Roadrunner lead.

Texas State was able to capitalize in the fourth, starting with Wood's second single of the game and an Aaron Garza walk. Crumpton then looped a double down the left field line to score Wood and tie the game at 2-2, and the Bobcats took a 3-2 lead when Garza scored on Field's RBI single.

The fourth Bobcat run in the inning came in the form of Crumpton, who put Texas State on top 4-2 on a Dresch sac fly.

Cannon led off the fifth with a double down the right-field line and moved to third on a Merrell ground-out, and after Wood grounded out to hold Cannon, Garza grounded to Ryan Saltzgaber who booted the ball, scoring Cannon and extending Texas State's lead to 5-2.

UTSA got the unearned run back in the bottom of the inning, as McKennon scored on James Keithley's RBI single to left center, but Bobcat starter Scott Moore stopped the potential fifth-inning rally with a strike out and fly out to end the inning with a 5-3 Bobcat advantage.

After the next three and a half frames went scoreless, McKennon ripped a one-out double in the ninth off of Bobcat closer Justin Fiske.

Todesco drew a walk to follow the double and put the tying run aboard, but Fiske persuaded the next two batters into outs, a strike out and fly out, to end the game with his sixth save of the season, moving the junior into third all-time in single-season saves.

Fiske's sixth save of the season was also the sixth of his career, moving the junior into a seventh-place tie on the all-time career saves list at Texas State.

Moore picked up the win for Texas State, tossing 5.2 innings to improve to 9-4, while Josh Ruffin took the Roadrunner loss to fall to 8-3 on the year.

Friday the series shifts back to San Marcos for a 6:30 first pitch at Bobcat Field, while Saturday's regular-season and series finale gets underway at 3 p.m. on Senior Day in San Marcos.

Friday's game will be carried on 89.9 FM, KTSW, and live stats will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com.