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San Marcos, Texas – Senior Jeff McVaney and junior Nick Smelser combined for seven hits, five runs and four RBIs to help power the Texas State baseball team past Louisiana-Lafayette, 9-5, on Monday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark. The win was the second straight for Texas State, which is now 2-1 to begin the 2012 campaign.

McVaney went 4 for 5 on the afternoon with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs, and Smelser chipped in with a 3 for 4 day at the plate that included a pair of doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs.

Starting pitcher Kyle Finnegan went six innings for Texas State in his second career start, striking out six Ragin' Cajuns while allowing just one earned run and four hits. The sophomore walked just two as he began the season with a win.

Covey Morrow threw an inning in relief of Finnegan before Ross Goebel came in for the final two innings to notch the save.

Louisiana-Lafayette (1-2) starter Chris Griffitt (0-1) took the loss after allowing three runs in 3 2/3 innings on the mound.

Texas State started the scoring early in the ballgame as Tyler Sibley led off the bottom of the first inning with a double down the left field line. Two batters later, McVaney kept up his strong start to the season with a double to right-center field that brought home Sibley for a 1-0 Bobcat lead.

The Bobcats kept the offense going in the second after a leadoff double from Smelser turned into the second run of the game after Isaac Nuti's RBI singled up the middle in his first at-bat of the season.

After Louisiana-Lafayette briefly cut its deficit to one in the top of the fourth inning with an unearned run, the Bobcats went back up by two when Smelser came home on a wild pitch to make the score 3-1 after four innings.

The Bobcats added a run in the bottom of the fifth after Cody Gambill was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 4-1.

A run by the Ragin' Cajuns in the top of the sixth inning made it 4-2, but McVaney picked up his fourth hit of the day with an RBI single to center field that brought home freshman Cody Lovejoy, who led off the inning with his first career hit. Three batters later, Smelser brought home a pair of runs after he roped a single to center to make the score 7-2 in favor of Texas State.

Single runs in the seventh and eighth by Louisiana-Lafayette brought the visitors deficit to just three, but Casey Kalenkosky extended the lead back to four in the bottom of the eighth inning with his first home run of the season. Kalenkosky blasted a 2-2 pitcher over the fence in left field for his 22^nd career home run, putting him in a tie for sixth in career home runs at Texas State.

Back-to-back doubles by Smelser and Gambill brought home the ninth and final run of the game for the Bobcats in the bottom of the eighth.