March 19, 2010

Final Stats

Huntsville, Texas - Carson Smith highlighted his second-career win by tossing six scoreless innings in a 7 2/3 effort and Tyler Sibley went 3-for-5 at the plate, scoring three runs, both aiding the Texas State Bobcats all-around effort over Sam Houston State Friday night to claim a 12-5 win over the foe at Don Sanders Stadium.

The Bobcats take game one in the Southland Conference series and improve to 3-1 in league play and 10-6 overall. The Bearkats fall to 1-3 and 5-12, respectively.

Tomorrow's game scheduled for 2 p.m. has been postponed due to heavy rain expected in the area. The teams will play a doubleheader Sunday beginning at noon.

"Tonight I watched this team come together for a complete game," said head coach Ty Harrington. "We used our momentum to take a big jump early and took their momentum away when they showed spurts of big moments."

"It is very hard to win on the road against anyone, but Sam Houston makes it tougher," added Harrington. "I'm very proud of the team for competing nine innings and excited to see what happens on Sunday."

Sibley opened the gates in Texas State's fifth-straight victory with a base hit to left field and Bret Atwood followed with a deep single to the opposite field to shift the sophomore to third base. In the next at-bat, Kyle Livingstone plated Sibley with a sacrifice fly and Kyle Kubitza came behind to push Atwood home with a single through the right side for a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the second, Texas State doubled the tally on an RBI double from Atwood and a groundout from Livingstone, but Sam Houston State nearly spoiled the edge with the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame. However, with two outs, Smith struck out Greg Olson to call off the threat.

Smith (2-2) retired the fourth, fifth and six innings with strikeouts and closed out the game with five total. The sophomore walked four of his 36 batters faced and allowed five runs off eight hits in his longest appearance this season.

Texas State continued to complement the effort, scoring a run in the fourth and sending seven across in the final three frames. In the top of the seventh, Jeff McVaney iced a four-run frame with a two-run homer to left center to put the Bobcats up 9-0 before the stretch.

Sam Houston State finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run single to Mark Hudson. The Bearkats tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, and left two runners on after Garret Carruth retired Hudson on strikes to end the inning.

Carruth closed out the game surrendering just one hit in his 1 1/3 inning of work with two strikeouts.

All but one Bobcat notched a hit in tonight's 16-hit outing. Sam Houston State finished with 10 hits, led by Ryan Mooney's 3-for-5 effort.

Dallas Gallant was tagged with the loss and falls to 1-4 on the season.