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San Marcos, Texas – The Texas State baseball team fell behind visiting Southeastern Louisiana in the top of the fourth inning and was never able to recover as the Bobcats lost, 8-5, on Friday night at Bobcat Ballpark.

A four-run eighth inning helped bring the Bobcats within striking distance late in the game, but the Lions were able to hold on for a three-run victory to improve to 24-11 overall and 10-6 in the Southland Conference, one game behind the league-leading Bobcat. Texas State dropped to 21-12, 11-5 SLC and a tie for first place in the conference with Stephen F. Austin.

Texas State starter Carson Smith (5-2) lost for just the second time this season after pitching seven innings and allowing three runs. The junior struck out four but allowed seven hits and three walks while hitting three batters.

Brandon Efferson (6-2) won for the sixth time this season for SLU. The senior struck out six and allowed one run over 6 1/3 innings.

Stefan Lopez pitched 1 2/3 innings to close out the game for the Lions as he earned his eighth save of the season.

Texas State was led offensively by Jeff McVaney and Andrew Stumph, both of whom had three hits on the evening. McVaney finished 3-for-4 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk, raising his season batting average to .378. Stumph bumped his batting average up to .282 with a 3-for-5 night while also adding a run scored and an RBI.

Smith was sharp early and did not allow a hit to the Lions through the first three innings, but the visitors were able to break through with a single run in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 3-0 lead after five innings.

Texas State's offense put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut into its deficit. Casey Kalenkosky singled to right field, and McVaney followed with a walk to put two on. Stumph then came up and singled through the middle to bring home Kalenkosky and make the score 3-1 Southeastern Louisiana after the sixth.

The Lions took advantage of a pair of Texas State errors along with five hits and two walks in the top of the eighth inning as they put five runs on the scoreboard to take a 8-1 lead.

But the Bobcats fought back in the bottom of the eighth and scored four runs to make the score 8-5 heading into the ninth. McVaney, Cody Gambill and Issac Nuti each had RBI singles in the inning, and Tyler Sibley worked a bases-loaded walk to bring home the fourth run of the inning.

The Bobcats had opportunities to come all the way back from their seven-run deficit in both the eighth and ninth innings but could not capitalize. Texas State left the bases loaded in the eighth and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth before strikeouts from Lopez ended the Bobcats' comeback attempts.