Box Score

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State bounced back from its first loss at home in 11 games Friday night to beat the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners, 5-2, and pull within two games of first place in the Western Athletic Conference. In a tied game, the Bobcats took the lead in the seventh and relied on strong pitching and defense to shut down the Roadrunners to close out the game for the win.
 
CSU Bakersfield scored in the opening inning just like Friday, but the Bobcats limited it to just one run. After a scoreless second, Texas State took the lead. Kevin Sah reached base on a leadoff walk and stole his 22^nd base of the season, putting him third all-time in the Texas State record books for most steals in a season, just two behind second place Adam Witek. With him at second, Morgan Mickan cut the two-run lead in half with a double to right center to plate Sah. Then Mickan took second and third on wild pitches to snag a short-lived lead.
 
The Roadrunners answered the next inning with an unearned run. Cael Brockmeyer hit a triple and scored on a Texas State error to tie the game. From there, it was all defense until the bottom of the seventh.
 
Sah led off with another walk in Texas State's three-run seventh inning. CSU Bakersfield pitcher Hayden Carter threw him four straight balls and followed that with six more to walk Mickan and give Cody Lovejoy a 2-0 lead in the count. The Roadrunners brought in Taylor Aikenhead, but he threw Lovejoy the other two balls he needed to load the bases.
 
With the bases juiced, Andrew Stumph went looking for a sacrifice fly, the right fielder wasted no time rifling the ball to home after the catch. Fortunately for the Bobcats, after holding Sah at third, the throw went about five feet up the third base line, giving Sah plenty of time to score.
 
After a strikeout, Austin O'Neal came up to bat in a pinch hit situation, narrowly missing an opportunity to go against best friend, former teammate and CSUB starter Scott Brattvet. Instead, he pushed the lead to 7-5 with a drop shot single to right field against Aikenhead. His two-RBI single scored Mickan and Lovejoy and made him the only player on the day with multiple RBI.
 
Texas State used Scott Grist for a third of the eighth before bringing in reliable closers Donnie Hart and Hunter Lemke. The duo struck three out and didn't allow a hit to shut it down for the Bobcats. Lemke picked up his eighth save of the season, putting him tied for second most saves ever in a season at Texas State. The next one puts him in a tie for the top spot with former Bobcat Jeff McVaney.
 
Grist earned his fourth win of the season, this one coming in 1.2 innings of relief. He struck out one and only gave up one hit while Lucas Humpal struck out two, walked none and only allowed one earned run in five innings of work to start the game.
 
Ben McElroy was the only Bobcat with multiple hits, finishing 2-for-3 while Mickan, Stumph, O'Neal and Nick Smelser all tallied a hit.
 
The Bobcats will play the series finale against CSU Bakersfield at 12 p.m. Sunday. Mitchell Pitts is scheduled to start. After that, Texas State hosts Houston Baptist at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.