Game One: Box Score | Box Score (PDF) Game Two: Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
Arlington, Texas – No. 21 Texas State split a doubleheader against UT Arlington on Sunday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington to win the weekend series in their first Southland Conference set of the season. Errors caught up with the Bobcats in the first game as the Mavericks won 6-3 to snap Texas State's eight-game winning streak, but the Bobcats came back in game two to win 3-2 with a run in top of the ninth to take the series.
Texas State moved to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the Southland Conference, while UT Arlington's record now stands at 10-7 overall and 1-2 in league play.
Game One: UTA – 6, TXST – 3
After UTA scored single runs in both the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead, the Bobcats came back with three runs in the third inning to take a 3-2 advantage. Cody Lovejoy started the inning with a single and Garrett Mattlage followed with a single two batters later to put runners on the corners with one out. A wild pitch from Mavericks' starter Lance Day plated Lovejoy for the first Texas State run before Casey Kalenkosky's RBI single evened the score at 2-2. The Bobcats took their first lead of the game on an RBI groundout by Brooks Orton that brought home Kalenkosky for a 3-2 score.
The Texas State lead was short-lived as UTA homered to begin the third inning and retook the lead in the fifth inning after a Bobcat error resulted in two unearned runs for the home team.
Two more errors in the seventh inning by Texas State allowed UT Arlington to score its third unearned run of the game to take a 6-3 lead.
UTA relievers combined to keep the Bobcats off the scoreboard over the final three innings of the game as the team fell by three runs in the opener.
Texas State starting pitcher Travis Ballew (3-1) was charged with the loss despite recording his third quality start of the season with six innings on the mound and three earned runs allowed. He struck out three and allowed just one walk in his fourth start of the season
Kalenkosky finished 2 for 5 in the loss while extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Tyler Sibley also extended his on-base streak to all 14 games this season with a first-inning single.
Game Two: TXST – 3, UTA – 2
Texas State jumped ahead early in the second game after Mattlage singled through the middle to bring home Jeff McVaney, who led off the inning with his first triple of the season, for a 1-0 lead. But UT Arlington matched the output in the bottom of the inning for a 1-1 score after two innings.
Mattlage then put the Bobcats in front again in the fourth inning when he came home on a sacrifice fly by Cody Perkins for a 2-1 Texas State lead.
Unearned runs again benefited the home team in the fifth inning as a dropped fly ball led to the second run of the game for UT Arlington and a tied 2-2 score.
However, the Bobcats came through in the ninth inning with a run as Sibley worked a bases-loaded walk to bring home Mattlage, who led off the inning with a single, for the game-winning run. Sibley provided the game-winning RBI for the second time in the last four games after he also drove in the game winning runs in the Bobcats victory over No. 4 Rice on Tuesday.
Mattlage finished the game 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI, while McVaney was 2 for 4 with a run scored to lead the Texas State bats.
On the mound, sophomore Kyle Finnegan turned in another strong performance as he threw a career-high eight innings and allowed just one earned run and four hits. The righty struck out four and walked just one as he improved to 4-0 this season.
McVaney came in to save his second game of the weekend and third of the season, tossing a scoreless ninth inning to secure the team's 11th win of the season. McVaney now has 12 saves for his career – a Texas State career record.
Texas State heads to Austin on Tuesday for a game against Texas beginning at 6:05 p.m.
