May 29, 2009

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

Austin, Texas - The Texas State Bobcats were three outs away from their first NCAA postseason victory in ten years when Boston College forged an eight-hit six-run ninth and spoiled the Bobcats outing with an 8-7 ending Friday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Texas State will play Saturday, May 30 at noon in the elimination game against the loser of Texas/Army.

"When you look at the score, the game was exactly what I was expecting it to be with this type of atmosphere," said head coach Ty Harrington. "We went in knowing that we had three outs left and the reality of the game is that Boston College battled their way back into the game in those three outs."

With a 5-2 lead in tow, the Eagles pegged Texas State's relief with back-to-back singles, a double and three-run home run to take a 6-5 lead. One hit later, the Bobcats snagged the first out of the inning on a sacrifice bunt and two more runs crossed the plate before the final two were made.

With the bat in their hands in the bottom of the ninth, Bret Atwood took four pitches and walked to bring up Paul Goldschmidt. The junior belted his lone hit of the afternoon, a two-run shot deep to left field and made it a one-run game, 8-7.

Senior Adam Witek drew the second walk of the frame and Spenser Dennis shifted him to scoring position with a sac bunt. Junior Ben Theriot took his chances with a shot to deep left, but Andrew Lawrence made the snag and closer Mike Belfiore retired Lance Loftin on strikes to give the Eagles the win.

Texas State built its lead with a quick run in the bottom of the first and added another in the bottom of the fourth when Kyle Livingstone drove in Dennis, who led off the inning with a double to right center.

The Bobcats used three hits for a pair of runs in the sixth and took the 5-2 lead in the seventh when Jason Martinson scored on an RBI single from Keith Prestridge.

Prestridge led the Bobcats with a 3-for-4 outing at the plate and Goldschmidt roped in a team-best three RBIs. Loftin also tallied a pair of hits and extended his hit steak to 10-straight games.

Michael Wiswall led BC with three hits and Lawrence drove in a game-high four runs. Chris Kowalski (4-1) picked up the win for BC and Belfiore earned his ninth save of the season. Michael Russo (4-3) took the loss for Texas State.

The Texas vs. Army match-up is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. this evening and the winner will play BC at 6 p.m. tomorrow night.

Game Tracker and a live video feed will be available on the Baseball sidebar on www.txstatebobcats.com or on www.texassports.com.