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San Marcos, Texas – The Texas State offense continued to produce on Saturday afternoon as the Bobcats eliminated Nicholls from the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament with a 10-7 victory at Bobcat Ballpark.
No. 1 seed Texas State now moves on to the championship game where the Bobcats will play No. 2 seed Stephen F. Austin in a winner-take-all showdown beginning at 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark. Stephen F. Austin defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 6-5, earlier in the day to advance to the title game.
The championship game will be televised in the San Marcos and Austin area on KNVA-TV The CW. The game will also be available online on ESPN3.com and southland.org. See below for a complete list of stations on which the game will be televised.
For the second straight day, Tyler Sibley began the game with a deep drive to center field to lead off the game. The second baseman tripled over the head of Nicholls center fielder Bear Comer before coming home two batters later for the first run of the game.
Texas State continued the scoring with two runs in both the third and fourth innings to grab a 5-0 lead, highlighted by a two-run home run from Casey Kalenkosky for his school-record 21st homer of the season.
Nicholls came back within two after a three-run fourth inning to make the score 5-3, but Bret Atwood hit a two-RBI double as part of a three-run fifth inning to extend the lead back to five, 8-3.
The Colonels manufactured a run in the sixth inning to make it 8-4, but Kyle Kubitza launched a solo home run to deep right-center field to push the Bobcat lead back to five, 9-4. Some heads-up baserunning from Clint Vest helped score another run as the senior scored on an infield single from Christian Gallegos to make the score 10-4 Texas State.
Nicholls scored one in the seventh and two in the ninth to cut the deficit to three, but the Bobcats turned to closer Jeff McVaney who closed out the game for his ninth save of the a season, a new Texas State program record.
Texas State and Stephen F. Austin will play for the SLC Tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional beginning at 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark.
Head Coach Ty Harrington Opening Statement
“I thought Lee gave us a chance to win. We knew we had to have a guy who could put up some zeroes and give us a chance to score. Webster was sitting in the background for them, lurking and we knew they'd put him in when it was close. I was proud of our offense for getting us a lead early, to get him in the game earlier. Obviously as the game went on, we made some unbelievable defensive plays. They've been really good. We made some errors, but our defense has been good. I was proud of the effort they gave. Then for Pitts to come back on two days rest, he's as gutty as they get. A lot of people wondered what we were doing, putting a guy in with two days rest. Our plan was if we got to this point, that he'd be able to come back and pitch. J-Mac [Jeff McVaney] came in and did what he had to do, which was throw strikes.”
On Lee Colon
“The majority of Lee's struggles have been out of the pen. When he's started games, he's been really good. We wanted to get him back in a starting role, which we did today, and I was proud. There were some moments where he really attacked with his fastball.”
On offense
“At this point in the year you're trying to win. To overanalyze anything at this point would be to create some ink in the papers and make me feel better about what I think I know. For us to go out there and score 10 runs, was good. It's hot out here. The field temperature has to be well above 100 degrees, and I'm proud of our kids for hanging in there. They're tired. It's a lot of baseball games in a couple days and they're ready to go.”
Nicholls head coach Seth Thibodaux:
On the team not giving up: “Several times we could have rolled over; we're at someone else's park with a really great crowd and our guys kept fighting. That's who our guys are and that's what Nicholls' baseball is becoming.”
On the end to their tournament run: “We have a lot of respect from everyone and that's what we wanted. We didn't get what we came here to do which was try to win this tournament but we're going to keep fighting and we will be back.”
On Texas State's performance: “I have to tip my hat, whenever they smell blood they go get it. They're an intense bunch and they know how to win. Ty Harrington is an outstanding baseball coach. He gets everything out of his players and they're always going to be competing.”
