April 5, 2009

Final Stats

Conway, AR - Errors combined with hot bats from Central Arkansas forced the Texas State Bobcats to drop an 11-4 decision in the final game of the series to the Bears Sunday afternoon at UCA Field.

Texas State falls to 19-10 overall and 10-5 in Southland action, while UCA improves to 15-14 and 7-8, respectively. Southeastern Louisiana dropped a 9-0 decision to UT Arlington, therefore Texas State still holds a share of first place with the Lions. The Bobcats hit four batters and committed four errors, a mark that has not been matched since Feb. 28 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the loss.

For the first time in the series Texas State was held scoreless in the first inning and did not manage a run until the top of the third. Working on a three-run deficit, the Bobcats used three-straight hits to get on the board.

Tyler Sibley and Bret Atwood reached to open the frame and Paul Goldschmidt laced a base hit through the left side to score Sibley. Two batters later Spenser Dennis hit a single down the first base line to plate Atwood and trim UCA's lead to 3-2.

In the top of the fifth, Texas State managed its lone lead of the game, capitalizing on UCA's lone error of the game. Atwood, who finished 3-for-4 to lead the team, hit a base hit up the middle to open the inning and Goldschmidt backed it with hard-hitting shot to short that Graham Martin let slip past to left field. Atwood attempted the steal on the past ball, but was erased on a 7-5 putout. With one out, Keith Prestridge and Dennis followed through with back-to-back singles and Kyle Kubitza used a fielder's choice for the final run of the inning and Texas State's 4-3 edge.

Dennis' single scored Goldschmidt and gave him a team-leading two RBI in his 2-for-4 effort in the game.

Texas State's one-run lead would not be enough to hold the Bears and in the bottom of the sixth they used seven hits and one Bobcat fielding error to score eight runs the proved to be insurmountable.

Brian Borski took the loss for Texas State and falls to 4-2. The Bobcats used four relief pitchers in the effort with Aaron Taylor closing out the game tossing one inning of scoreless relief with no hits.

Bobby Pritchett earned the win for Central Arkansas, tossing 8.0 innings and limiting the Bobcats to eight hits and four runs, two of which were earned.

Texas State will move on from the series for a midweek game against Houston Baptist on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at Bobcat Field.