May 10, 2009

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SAN MARCOS - The Texas State Bobcats clawed their way back after an early offensive attack from the Nicholls Colonels and scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to take a 7-6 victory Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Field and claim the 2009 Southland Conference Regular Season Championship.

This marks the first outright championship the Bobcat baseball team has won. Texas State claimed the Texas Division title in both 1996 and 1997. With the win, Texas State improves to 37-12 overall and 23-6 in league action and will enter the postseason tournament on May 20 in Corpus Christi, Texas as the No. 1 overall seed. Nicholls falls to 18-31 on the season and 8-22 in the conference.

In the bottom of the ninth, Ross Larson was brought in to close out the game with a 6-5 Colonel lead in tow. Tyler Sibley belted his pitch straight back Larson that was too hard to handle to put the tying run on base. Bret Atwood laid down a sacrifice bunt to shift him to second base and with one out Paul Goldschmidt knocked a double down the left line to plate Sibley and Spenser Dennis brought Goldschmidt home in the next at-bat, lacing a double to the opposite field.

"I wanted to make my last game at Texas State a memorable one," said Dennis. "All I could think of when I was at the plate was that I had to get Paul (Goldschmidt) home. I have to bring him home."

Dennis finished the day 2-for-5 with a single run scored and the game-winning RBI. Goldschmidt and Sibley joined him with the same effort at the plate.

Nicholls out-hit Texas State 13-4 and had built a 4-1 lead by the top of the sixth inning before the Bobcats rally jumped off. Goldschmidt opened the bottom of the frame with a double down the left line and Dennis singled to short to shift him to third base. Loftin followed and belted his first pitch off the centerfield wall to push the pair across and trim the gap to just one run. In the next at-bat, Jason Martinson tied the game with a double to left field and on two outs, scored on a base hit up the middle from Kyle Kubitza.

Nicholls fought to hold Texas State scoreless over the next two innings and regained the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth.

Jason Dennis led the Colonels 17-hit attack with a 4-for-5 outing at the plate. Josh Swenson and Keith Kulbeth both went 3-for-5.

Loftin tallied a game-high three RBI off two hits in the decision.

Michael Russo earned the win and improves to 3-2 after working 1 1/3 inning and shutting down the Colonels offense to just one hit.

"I cannot say enough about the effort this team put out not only today, but this entire series," said head coach Ty Harrington. "They fought through the heat and the tough times in the game. They knew it meant something to them and dug down deep to find a way to win."

The Bobcats will return to the field Tuesday night when they close out the nonconference slate in College Station, Texas against No. 16 Texas A&M. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. at Olsen Field.