March 27, 2010
Final Stats
SAN MARCOS - Michael Russo tossed seven sound innings and Kyle Kubitza went 3-for-4, batting in five runs as the Texas State Bobcats took a 12-1 run-ruling victory over the Lamar Cardinals Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Field. The win marked head coach Ty Harrington's 350th-career win at the helm of the Bobcat baseball team.
Texas State improves to 13-8 overall and 6-2 in Southland Conference play and claims its third-straight league series. Lamar falls to 15-8 overall and 2-6 against the league.
Russo earned his third win of the season in the seven-inning stint, striking out five batters, including a pair in the fourth to retire the side in order. Russo allowed just one run and eight hits on the day.
Texas State complemented Russo's effort on the mound with a five-run first inning. Tyler Sibley and Bret Atwood led off with a pair of singles and Jason Martinson was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Jeff McVaney roped in the first run with a single to shallow centerfield and Kubitza followed with a base hit drilled through the right side to score Atwood and Martinson for the three-run edge. Laurn Randell polished off the five-hit inning with an RBI single to right field, before a groundout from Kopycinski brought in Kubitza for the early 5-0 lead.
A fielding error from Lamar could have prevented Texas State's three-run inning the followed, but a two-out rally highlighted by back-to-back doubles pushed the Bobcat lead to eight.
Texas State tacked on its final quartet of runs in the third with Kubitza's two-out base hit plating the final pair. Kubitza posted his third three-hit game of the season and brought in a career-high five RBI this afternoon.
"Kyle has been working with Coach (Jeremy) Fikac really hard the last couple of days trying to get his swing back," said Harrington. "There have been some really positive changes and his statistics show that."
As Texas State's offense came to a close, Russo held on to the lead by shutting down the foe over the next three innings.
"We scored early," said Harrington, "which I thought was important in getting the momentum into our dugout." "When we stopped scoring, Michael kept the momentum in our dugout by putting up zeros and having an impressive outing on the mound."
Lamar left nine runners on base and scored its lone run in the top of the seventh on an RBI double from Quentin Luquette.
Texas State will return to the Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. looking to complete the series sweep of Lamar. Southpaw Lee Colon will face Eric Harrington on the mound.
