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San Marcos, Texas – Mitchell Pitts pitched a gem on Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark to lead Texas State to a 4-0 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in game two of the three-game series. Pitts tossed his first career complete game shutout in front of 1,148 fans in attendance as he allowed just three hits on the day to pick up his fourth win of the season.
“Pitts' command of the breaking ball was great, and he didn't make many mistakes,” said Texas State head coach Ty Harrington. “It was a big opportunity for Pitts to complete the game himself, and he did that.”
Pitts (4-0) struck out four and allowed just one walk for the game. His complete game shutout is the first for a Bobcat pitcher this season and marks the first time the Bobcats have shutout Southeastern Louisiana since 2008.
“I prepared well for this game,” Pitts said. “I knew I wanted to come out and have a good game.”
Pitts' performance helped the Bobcats improve to 22-12 overall and 12-5 in the Southland Conference this season. He defeated Southeastern Louisiana (24-12, 10-7 SLC) starting pitcher Tyler Watkins (6-1) who entered the game undefeated this season.
The Bobcat offense gave Pitts four runs of support and was led by Casey Kalenkosky (3-for-4) and Kyle Kubitza (2-for-4). Kalenkosy blasted a home run as part of a three-hit day that included two runs. Kubitza hit the ball hard in each of his at-bats and finished with a pair of hits and a run scored to show for it.
Kubitza helped the Bobcats jump out to an early lead in the first inning when he tripled to the wall in right-center field to move into scoring position with one out. Andrew Stumph then hit the first pitch he saw to deep right field for a sacrifice fly that brought home Kubitza for the game's first run.
In the bottom of the second, Texas State added another run when Kalenkosky hit a 1-1 pitch out over the fence in left-center field for his Southland Conference-leading 13th home run of the season, staking the Bobcats to a 2-0 lead after two innings.
Pitts was dominant through the early stages of Saturday's game, needing just 52 pitches to keep work through the first five innings as he kept the visitors off balance at the plate and off the scoreboard.
Bret Atwood singled to begin the bottom half of the fifth inning and set the table for the top of the Texas State lineup. After Tyler Sibley laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Atwood to second, Kubitza hit a hard liner to the right fielder that allowed Atwood to move up a base to third with two outs. Stumph came through with his second RBI of the game, sending a pitch from Watkins back through the middle for a 3-0 Texas State advantage.
Pitts continued to cruise through the sixth and seventh innings, allowing just one base runner during the stretch.
At the plate, Texas State tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth when a sacrifice fly from Isaac Nuti brought home Kalenkosky to increase the lead to 4-0.
That would be more than enough scoring for the team on Saturday as Pitts held the Lions hitless over the final two innings to cap off his outing. Pitts, who did not allow a hit after the fourth inning, worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to induce a ground out to the shortstop, a pop up to the first baseman and a fly out to center field for the final three outs of the game.
“I thought today was one of our best execution days,” Harrington said. “We needed that.”
The Bobcats and Lions will play the series finale on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark.
