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Baseball: McNeese State Game Gallery
San Marcos, Texas – For the second straight day, Texas State jumped out to an early lead over McNeese State before running away with the win. The Bobcats defeated the Cowboys 10-1 at Bobcat Ballpark on Saturday in front of 1,221 in attendance to clinch the series.
Junior Colton Turner shined Saturday afternoon, turning in his first complete game of his career while tying his career high with 12 strikeouts. The southpaw limited McNeese State to just one run on eight hits for the game while issuing just one walk. Turner (2-1) earned his second win of the season while lowering his season ERA to 1.64.
Turner's performance helped the Bobcats improve to 18-9 this season and 6-5 in the Southland Conference.
Meanwhile, McNeese State dropped to 10-14 overall and 6-5 in the conference with its second straight loss. Cowboys' starter Blake Ware (4-2) took the loss after allowing seven runs over 6 2/3 innings.
The Texas State's offense gave Turner plenty of support, scoring 10 runs on 13 hits for the game. Jeff McVaney continued to swing a hot bat as he finished 3 for 5 with two runs scored and two RBIs, upping his season batting average to .343, while Andrew Stumph finished 3 for 5 with a solo home run and two RBIs. Tyler Sibley notched his second three-hit game of the season with a 3 for 5 day at the plate. Sibley also tied Bret Atwood for the career stolen base lead at Texas State with 49.
A pair of Cowboys' errors helped Texas State take a 3-0 lead in the first inning. McVaney singled for his team-leading 21st RBI of the season in the frame, and Nick Smelser added a sacrifice fly later to put the Bobcats in front by three.
Casey Kalenkosky brought home Garrett Mattlage from third base in the second inning with a sacrifice fly that made the score 4-0.
Texas State added two more runs in the third inning when Joey Fuda ripped an RBI double down the left field line that brought home Smelser for the first run of the inning before Brooks Orton's RBI single plated Fuda for a 6-0 score.
The teams exchanged home runs in the seventh inning as the score went to 7-1. McNeese State's Michael Sullivan put the Cowboys in the scoreboard with a solo homer in the top of the inning, and Stumph answered in the bottom half of the inning with his second bomb of the season.
The Bobcats added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when McVaney had an RBI single and Stumph nearly missed his second homer of the day when he doubled off the wall in left-center field for his second RBI of the day.
Texas State will look for its first sweep of the conference season on Sunday when the Bobcats and Cowboys play game three of the weekend series beginning at 1 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark. Sophomore RHP Kyle Finnegan (4-1, 2.36) is scheduled to toe the rubber for Texas State.
