March 30, 2010
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SAN MARCOS - Mimicking a storybook ending from his freshman season, senior Laurn Randell hit a walk-off base hit to right field in the eleventh inning in front a record 2,603 fans at Bobcat Field, to give the Bobcats a 6-5 victory over the No. 22 Texas A&M Aggies Tuesday night.
Randell notched the game-winning hit his freshman season in 2007 with a walk-off single against then-ranked No. 1 Rice to give Texas State a 3-2 victory.
The Bobcats improve to 15-8 with its first victory against a ranked foe in 2010, while the Aggies fall to 17-8 overall.
"It means a lot to get the win here tonight and it's very important to our university," said head coach Ty Harrington. "We know that this is in our future, playing on a stage like this in front of this many fans each game against a quality opponent like Texas A&M." "The atmosphere is fun for the campus, the community and exceptional for our university."
Down 5-4 entering the bottom of the 11th, Kyle Kubitza belted a monstrous home run to right field to tie the game. Jeff McVaney followed with double lined to left field and Colton Burnett was called in to run the bases. A groundout from Jordan Kopycinski pushed the freshman to third and with the Aggie infield pulled in; Randell delivered the knock to right field for the game-winning RBI.
Texas State jumped out to a 4-1 lead over the Aggies after a solo homerun from Jason Martinson in the second was complemented with a three-run fourth frame. The Bobcats took advantage of three Aggie errors, an RBI single from Kubitza and a sacrifice fly to push the trio of runs across.
A&M chipped away at the tally with an RBI triple from Brandon Wood in the seventh and came back to tie the game in the eighth with a two-run homer from Adam Smith.
Timely relief, spearheaded by a 1 2/3 outing from Garret Carruth, kept Texas State in the game. Carruth struck out Brett Parsons and got Kevin Gonzales to fly out to end the eighth and returned in the ninth, walked one batter and fanned the side to put the momentum back in the Bobcats court.
Jeff McVaney retired the tenth with a pair of strikeouts, but A&M slid through in the 11th. Gonzales doubled to right center and sacrifice bunt put the potential game-winning run on third base, before a long sacrifice fly to right field sent the run home.
Fielding Pittman was called to the mound, faced one batter and a groundout to third base retired the frame and eventually handed the senior his first-career win.
"This team has battled in every single game this season," said head coach Ty Harrington. "Heading into the last at-bat, the dugout was focused, because they've been in this situation before and they knew how to handle it and take care of business."
Brian Borski tossed 6 1/3 innings in tonight's start, scattered eight hits and a pair of runs with three strikeouts in the no-decision.
Kubitza went 2-for-4 with two runs and a pair of RBI and the game-tying homerun was the sophomore's third of the season. Martinson went 3-for-4 and Randell ended the night with a 2-for-4 effort in Texas State's nine-hit night.
A&M was led by a 3-for-5 effort from Gonzales to aid its 12-hit night. Jake Feckley was dealt his first loss of the season.
Texas State will move on from tonight's winning decision to play a three-game Southland Conference series at Stephen F. Austin. First pitch Thursday afternoon is set for 3 p.m., with games on Friday (2 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.) to follow. The Bobcats and Lumberjacks will stray away from the traditional Friday-Sunday series for the Easter Holiday.
