San Marcos, Texas – Highlighted by the team's highest ranking in the program's history and national exposure from a record-breaking scoreless innings streak, the 2012 Texas State baseball season helped head coach Ty Harrington and the Bobcat program take another step forward.
The Bobcats began the season strong with a 14-6 record through the team's first 20 games, the second best 20-game start to a season since Harrington took over in 2000. The start helped catapult Texas State up to No. 20 in the Baseball America rankings, the highest since the program began in 1985, and No. 30 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
Partially responsible for the strong start was the Bobcat pitching staff, which set program records and made a run at a longtime NCAA record. Texas State hurlers did not allow a run over 57 2/3 consecutive innings, a streak spanning seven games from Feb. 25 to March 6. The Bobcats set the team record for scoreless innings and consecutive shutouts (5) and came up just 6 1/3 innings shy of the NCAA record of 64 consecutive scoreless innings set in 1972 by Arizona State. The streak began in the fourth inning of a game versus Houston and ended with one out in the eighth inning against No. 4 Rice on March 6 with an RBI single by J.T. Chargois. The streak included a pair of wins over Houston, a win against No. 18 TCU, a series sweep of Notre Dame and a victory over No. 4 Rice.
The Bobcats' win over No. 4 Rice was one of six wins the team had against ranked opponents during the season. Texas State also defeated preseason No. 37-ranked Wichita State along with No. 18/No. 19 TCU twice and No. 16 Oregon twice.
Texas State completed its conference schedule with a 19-14 record in its final season in the Southland Conference, earning the Bobcats the No. 3 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament hosted at Bobcat Ballpark. The postseason appearance was the 16th consecutive for the Bobcats, while the team's winning record in conference extended Harrington's streak of consecutive seasons with a winning conference record to all 13 years he has been at the helm.
The Bobcats won their opening game of the SLC Tournament, an 11-1 triumph over No. 6 seed Stephen F. Austin, but that would be the only victory of the tournament for Texas State as No. 2 seed Southeastern Louisiana defeated the Bobcats on the second day before SFA came back to avenge its earlier loss with a 9-7 win that ended Texas State's season with a 32-24 overall record.
Several Bobcats earned accolades throughout the 2012 season, including junior RHP Travis Ballew who earned Louisville Slugger All-America Third Team honors, becoming the third pitcher in the program's history to earn the distinction. Ballew also was named the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year and an All-SLC First Team selection following his breakout season. Ballew concluded his 2012 season with an 11-4 record, 2.73 ERA and 119 strikeouts over 102 1/3 innings on the mound. Ballew held opponents to just a .239 batting average collectively, and he also managed two shutouts as part of four complete games.
Joining Ballew on all-conference teams were Jeff McVaney (first team outfielder), Colton Turner (second team pitcher), Andrew Stumph (second team catcher) and Casey Kalenkosky (third team first baseman).
McVaney led the Texas State offense in nearly every category for the season. The senior paced the Bobcats in batting average (.338), runs scored (46), hits (75), doubles (21), home runs (10), RBIs (48) and stolen bases (16). His 21 doubles tied the single-season Texas State record. McVaney also excelled on the mound where he set the Texas State career record for saves with 15 after recording six in 2012.
As a team, Texas State set a program record for ERA as Bobcat pitchers combined for a 3.02 ERA that bettered the 3.73 mark set by the 2011 pitching staff. Texas State pitchers also had 462 strikeouts collectively, the third most in a single season for the Bobcats.
In addition to team records, several individual records were set by Bobcats in 2012. Senior Tyler Sibley etched his name on the top of six more career records and now owns seven following his standout four-year career. Sibley set records for hits, doubles, stolen bases, games played, at-bats and total bases to go along with his runs scored record that he set in 2011.
Another record set in 2012 was for attendance at Bobcat Ballpark with an average of 1,287 fans per game. That number ranked 48th in the nation, while the total attendance of 37,329 for the season ranked 46th nationally.
The Bobcats said goodbye to seven seniors following the conclusion of the season. In addition to McVaney and Sibley, Dylan Adamek, Joey Fuda, Cody Gambill, Kalenkosky and Isaac Nuti all played their final games for Texas State.
2012 Accolades
Travis Ballew
- Louisville Slugger All-American Third Team
- ABCA All-South Central Region Second Team
- Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year
- All-Southland Conference First Team
- College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year Watch List
- Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week (3/5)
- College Baseball Hall of Fame National All-Star Lineup (3/7)
Casey Kalenkosky
- All-Southland Conference Third Team
- Southland Conference All-Academic First Team
- CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team
- Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America Third Team
- Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team
Jeff McVaney
- All-Southland Conference First Team
- Southland Conference All-Academic First Team
- John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Watch List
- NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
- Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team
Mitchell Pitts
- Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team
- College Baseball 360 Primetime Performer (3/6)
- College Baseball 360 Primetime Performer (3/13)
Tyler Sibley
- Southland Conference All-Academic First Team
- CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team
- Texas State Male Scholar Athlete of the Year
- Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Candidate
- Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team
Andrew Stumph
- All-Southland Conference Second Team
- Johnny Bench Award Watch List
- Preseason All-Southland Conference Second Team
- College Baseball 360 Primetime Performer (4/3)
Colton Turner
- All-Southland Conference Second Team
- Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team
Team
- College Baseball Insider National Team of the Week (3/8)
