Box Score
Box Score (PDF)
Conway, Ark. – A complete team effort resulted in an 8-3 Texas State victory on Friday night as the Bobcats took game one of a three-game series against Central Arkansas. Junior Carson Smith pitched his third career complete game and first of this season as the Bobcats improved to 11-2 atop the Southland Conference.
The Bobcats were on point defensively throughout the game Friday evening, making several impressive defensive plays to help limit the Bears to three run on the night. At the plate, the Bobcats put 22 runners on base, pounding out nine hits, walking eight times and getting hit by five pitches.
Smith (5-1) battled through a shaky start to hold the home team scoreless after the fourth inning. The right-handed pitcher struck out six, walked two and allowed three runs on the night as he helped the Bobcats improve to 20-9 overall this season.
Andy Steinmetz (1-1) was charged with the loss for Central Arkansas, which fell to 14-17 overall and 4-9 in the Southland Conference.
A two-RBI double from Tyler Sibley accounted for the first two runs of the game for the Bobcats in the top of the second inning. Sibley knocked in Isaac Nuti and Cody Gambill for his 15th and 16th RBIs of the season in staking Texas State to a 2-0 lead.
However, the Bears answered with a pair of their own in the bottom half of the inning to knot the game at 2-2.
The Bobcats manufactured single runs in both the third and fourth inning to help the team to a 4-2 advantage. Kyle Kubitza scored in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Cory Falvey, and Gambill scored in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly from Kubitza to give the Bobcats a two-run lead.
A home run for the Bears in the bottom of the fourth shrank the Texas State to 4-3, but the Bobcats put together a two-out rally in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 6-3. A one-out single from Sibley was followed two batters later by an RBI single from Jeff McVaney for the first run of the inning. McVaney advanced to second on an error from the UCA center fielder, and an RBI double from Kubitza brought him home for a 6-3 Bobcat lead.
That score would remain until the top of the eighth inning when McVaney hit a 0-1 pitch over the left field fence for his fifth long ball this season and second in as many games.
Texas State added an insurance run in the top of the ninth thanks to four wild pitches by UCA reliever Jim Youngblood for the final 8-3 count.
The Bobcats and Bears will play game two of the series on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Bear Stadium. Fans can listen to the call of the game from Bill Culhane on 89.9 KTSW or on www.txstatebobcats.com/radio.
