Box Score

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Texas State put up eight hits against Sacramento State, but six of them came off the bats of Kevin Sah and Morgan Mickan. Those two and the third hitter in the lineup, Garrett Mattlage, all hit an RBI for the Bobcats, but it wasn't enough as they dropped to Sacramento State, 7-5.
 
Outside of the top three in the lineup, only Ben McElroy and J.D. Stinnett knocked a hit with Stinnett's going for an RBI. McElroy scored twice in the game, but the standout player for the Bobcats was sophomore pitcher Austen Williams.
 
In relief, Williams struck out two and only gave up two hits in 4.2 innings of work. He retired 14 of 15 batters and put streaks of eight and six consecutive batters retired. His work gave Texas State a chance at the end.
 
Unfortunately, Sacramento State's early lead proved to be too much to overcome. The Hornets put up two runs in the first and five runs combined in the third and fourth innings. Sac State's seven runs came on 11 hits while Texas State stranded 12 base runners.
 
The Bobcats fell behind early as the Hornets used three hits to gain two runs in the first inning, starting with a leadoff double down the left line by Andrew Ayers. He scored on the third hit of the inning, and Rhys Hoskins came in on a wild pitch.
 
In the top of the third, Texas State loaded the bases on two walks and a single. With two outs and the bases juiced, the Bobcats popped one up to leave three stranded on the Bobcats' best opportunity for early runs.
 
The close call woke the Hornets up as they scored three runs on Justin Higley's fourth home run of the season to go up, 5-0.
 
After two more Sacramento State runs in the fourth, back to back singles from Sah and Mickan opened the fifth inning. Sah scored on a Mattlage groundout to put the Bobcats on the board, 7-1, but that would be all for Texas State in the frame.
 
McElroy walked to start the sixth inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. He took third when Hornet third baseman Will Soto committed an error when Stinnett put the ball in play. With runners at the corners, Sah grounded out, but McElroy scored on the play. Stinnett scored next on a Mickan single to left field to pull the Bobcats within four, 7-3.
 
Texas State started to put momentum together with three combined runs in the fifth and sixth innings and were looking for more in the seventh. Unfortunately, Sacramento State, one of the better defensive teams in the Western Athletic Conference, made two diving plays to keep the Bobcats at bay.
 
Andrew Stumph sent a deep hit to left center that looked to be a standup double, but David Del Grande made the diving play from centerfield. Two batters later Colby Targun sent a hit to short right center on which Nathan Lukes made the diving play.
 
In the eighth inning, McElroy led off with another walk and went to second on a groundout. After that, McElroy went to third on a wild pitch and Stinnett brought him home with a single up the middle to make it 7-4. Behind that, Sah hit his third single of the game, and Mickan took a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Mattlage. The shortstop almost slid one up the middle, but the Hornets turned a double play to end the Texas State opportunity and leave the Bobcats' ninth, 10^th and 11^th runners stranded.
 
The Bobcats scored one in the ninth but it wouldn't be enough to overcome the early 7-0 deficit.
 
Texas State will put Kyle Finnegan on the mound for the final game of the series Sunday. First pitch is schedule for 2 p.m. Central Standard Time.