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Houston, Texas – A three-run sixth inning put No. 17 Rice in front for good as the home team overcame four errors to defeat No. 25 Texas State, 6-4, at Reckling Park on Tuesday evening in front of a season-high 5,320 fans in Houston. The game was the final midweek contest of the season for the Bobcats, who have one series remaining in the regular season.
Texas State dropped to 34-18 overall with the loss, and Rice improved to 36-17 with the victory.
Travis Ballew started for the Bobcats and allowed one earned run in three innings on the mound before giving way to Tyler King, who pitched 1 1/3 innings and allowed one run. Brian Borski (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing three runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Abe Gonzales (5-2) earned his fifth win for Rice after throwing 2 2/3 innings of relief, while Tony Cingrani picked up his ninth save of the season.
Some aggressive base running hurt the Bobcats early as the team had two players picked off first base through the first three innings, but that same aggressiveness helped Texas State come back to tie the game after Rice jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning, Bret Atwood took a one-out walk and stole second base to give the Bobcats their first runner in scoring position of the evening. After Casey Kalenkosky also walked, Texas State executed a double steal that resulted in the Rice catcher throwing the ball into left field to allow Atwood to come home for a 2-1 score. One pitch later, Kalenkosky followed suit after a wild pitch from Rice starter Holt McNair allowed the Bobcat first baseman to come up and tie the game at 2-2.
After Rice scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead, the Bobcats came back with a run in the top of the sixth to tie the game for a second time. Texas State loaded the bases with no outs but had to settle for one run in the inning after a double-play ground out followed by a fly out got the home team out of the inning.
Rice took its third lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth when the Owls scored three runs to pull in front, 6-3. However, Texas State hit three consecutive singles to begin the seventh inning and load the bases with no outs. It looked to be the start of a big inning for Texas State, but Tyler Sibley hit a bullet to the second baseman who caught Joey Fuda off second base for a double play to halt the rally. A nice play from the Rice third baseman then retired Atwood after he tried to reach on a bunt to get the Owls out of the inning without any runs being scored.
Texas State cut its deficit to two in the top of the eighth when pinch hitter Cory Falvey lined a single into right field that brought home Kyle Kubitza from second base for a 6-4 Rice lead.
The Bobcats threatened in the top of the ninth, putting runners on first and second with the go-ahead run at the plate in Kalenkosky, but the Rice closer was able to strike out the Bobcat slugger to secure the win for the Owls.
The Bobcats will wrap up their regular season this Thursday through Saturday when the team heads to UT Arlington for a three-game set with the Mavericks. Texas State, which has already secured its third consecutive Southland Conference regular season championship and the top seed in the Southland Conference Tournament, will begin play with UTA on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. All three games in Arlington can be heard live on www.TxStateBobcats.com/radio.
