May 20, 2006

Box Score

SAN MARCOS - Six Texas State batters produced multiple-hit outings while Mike Hart tossed seven innings of four-hit baseball, as Texas State pounded Texas-San Antonio 12-3 to earn the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Southland Conference tournament.

Texas State (28-28, 20-10) notched a school-record 20th SLC victory in the win, while UTSA (36-19, 20-10) fell to the No. 3 seed and a date with the Lamar Cardinals in the tournament's opening round.

Luke Cannon hit two home runs in a 3-for-5, three run, six RBI outing, making the senior one of only five in Texas State history to belt 20 or more career home runs. Kyle Jones led the `Cats at the plate, going 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.

The Roadrunners scored first for the third time in the series, when with two outs in the first, Michael Rockett singled to center, scoring Michael McKennon to put UTSA on top 1-0.

The Bobcats erased the UTSA lead and then some in the second inning, starting with a David Wood single and an RBI double by Aaron Garza that tied the game at 1-1. Dawid Bednarek would then lay down a bunt singe to move Garza to third, and Garza crossed one batter later when Casey Guest singled to right to put the `Cats up 2-1.

Bednarek, who moved to third on the play, put Texas State up 3-1 by scoring on Cassidy Dresch's sac fly to right, and after a second single by Jones, Cannon hit his 15th homer of the season, blasting the ball opposite field over the left field wall to give Texas State a 6-1 lead.

Texas State added to the advantage in the fourth, as Thomas Field led off with a single and was bunted to second by Dresch, who went 2-for-3 in the game. Field would later score when Jones singled up the middle, extending the Bobcat led to 7-1.

UTSA made its final charge at the scoreboard in the fifth, as Phillip Allen crossed the plate on McKennon's RBI single, followed by a Todesco single that plated McKennon to make the count 7-3.

Cannon led off the Bobcat seventh with a single through the middle and eventually reached third base on a bunt by Cody Merrell and a ground out by Wood. Garza then chopped a ball deep in the hole at short for an infield single, scoring Cannon to push the lead to 8-4.

After stealing second base, Garza came across when Bednarek singled to center, putting Texas State ahead 9-4.

Cannon lit the Bobcat Field scoreboard one last time in the eighth, belting his second three-run homer of the game with Jones and Dresch aboard, capping the 12-3 regular-season ending win.

Dresch, Jones and Cannon - Texas State's top three hitters in the batting order - finished the game a combined 9-for13 with eight RBIs and six runs scored. The trio was joined in the multi-hit column by Wood (2-for-5), Garza (2-for-4) and Bednarek (2-for4).

UTSA starter Caleb Barton lasted only 1.2 innings to begin the game but earned the loss, falling to 1-6 on the season while Hart posted his second straight winning decision to improve to 4-2 on the year.

With the close of the regular season, Texas State will open the SLC tournament next Wednesday in Beaumont, Texas, as the No. 2 seed, taking on fifth-seeded Texas-Arlington at 3 p.m.