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San Marcos, Texas – The No. 25 Texas State baseball team clinched its third consecutive Southland Conference regular season championship on Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark when the Bobcats defeated Nicholls, 4-3, to claim the top spot in the Southland Conference Tournament.
“Right now, it feels pretty good,” said head coach Ty Harrington. “Anytime you can win any kind of championship, it's huge. To win three in a row, it shows the kind of players that we've had these past few years. I know [the players] know that this is one of the championships that they're after. There are other ones out there that they're trying to win.”
The Bobcats entered the weekend with a magic number of four to win the championships outright or three to clinch at least a share of the title, needing any combination of Texas State victories and Stephen F. Austin losses to secure the title. With two wins over the past two days, Texas State took care of its end, and with the Lumberjacks losing two straight to Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, the Bobcats reached their magic number of four.
Texas State improved to 33-17 overall and 22-7 in the Southland Conference with the victory. The Bobcats now have a five-game lead in the league with four conference games remaining.
Nicholls dropped to 23-26 overall and 12-17 in the SLC.
Mitchell Pitts started for the Bobcats and turned in his sixth quality start of the season, pitching seven innings with one earned run allowed. He struck out six and walked three as he picked up the no-decision. Fielding Pittman (2-2) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to earn his second win of the season. Jeff McVaney then came in to pitch the ninth for his eighth save of the season, tying the Texas State single-season record for saves.
Patrick Shreve (2-2) started for Nicholls and fell for the second time this season after pitching 7 2/3 innings and allowing four earned runs.
Andrew Stumph went 4-for-4 at the plate for his third four-hit game of the season to lead the Texas State offense that finished the game with nine hits.
Both pitchers held the opposing offenses at bay through the first two innings before Texas State took a 1-0 lead in the third inning. After consecutive singles from Bret Atwood and Stumph put two runners on base with one out, Casey Kalenkosky flirted with his 18th home run of the season with a drive to right field that would have cleared the fence if not for Nicholls right fielder Scott Moseley, who scaled the wall for an impressive catch that saved two runs. The play resulted in a sacrifice fly as Atwood was easily able to score from third base.
Nicholls scored a run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 1-1, but Texas State put three runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth to move in front, 4-1. Kyle Kubitza, Cory Falvey and McVaney each had RBIs in the inning.
McVaney came in to pitch the ninth inning when the Colonels loaded the bases with no one out, but the junior was able to get three straight outs and limit the visitors to two runs to secure the one-run victory for the Bobcats.
Texas State has now won 15 consecutive Southland Conference home series dating back to the 2009 season.
The Bobcats and Colonels will play the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark. It will also be Senior Day for Texas State, which will honor its seven seniors prior to the game.
