Box Score

SAN MARCOS – Texas State played its fifth extra-inning game this season and trailed most of the way, but finished it in style with a Granger Studdard walk-off home run to clinch the team's second conference victory and improve to 12-6 on the season. Studdard's two-run shot off the scoreboard pushed the Bobcats past UT Arlington, 7-5, Saturday.
 
It was Studdard's second home run in as many days and his second walk-off hit to win for Texas State. With two outs in the 11^th, David Paiz kept the inning alive with a single to shallow centerfield. Studdard followed with his game winner.
 
Studdard finished with two hits on the day, a run scored and his two RBI on the homer. Ben McElroy had the best average for Texas State on a 2-for-3 day while three other Bobcats knocked two hits each and two more added one. The balanced offensive attack led to 12 hits for Texas State.
 
Hunter Lemke earned his fourth victory of the season, pitching in the 10^th and 11^th innings to get the win. Justin Dellinger was also good in relief, striking four out and only allowing one hit in 2.2 innings of work. Dellinger, Cory Geisler and starter Austen Williams combined for 13 strikeouts in the game.
 
For the second day in a row UT Arlington was the first to grab a lead. The Mavericks used a walk and two singles to score Darien McLemore in the first inning for the early 1-0 lead. In the third inning, UTA added another run. After consecutive walks, Greg McCall knocked a single through the right side to score Matt Shortall from second.
 
In the fourth inning, the Bobcats tied the game. First, McElroy cut the 2-0 lead in half when he scored on a groundout from Cody Lovejoy. McElroy knocked a double to right field and went to third on a Matt Smith single. Smith scored next to tie it, 2-2, on a Colby Targun base knock to right field. The Bobcats were tearing up shallow right field throughout the fourth.
 
The Mavericks responded in the top of the fifth with Justin Copeland's first career home run, a solo shot to right field to put UTA up, 3-2. In the sixth, UT Arlington added another run. Shortstop Peter Cuomo reached on a hit by pitch and advanced to second on a failed pickoff play. Next, McLemore knocked a single to left field to score Cuomo and push the UTA lead to 4-2.
 
After UT Arlington added another run in the top of the seventh, Texas State pulled within one run in the bottom of the inning. Lovejoy, Targun and Garrett Mattlage loaded the bases without an out for Tyler Pearson. He plated Lovejoy with a sacrifice fly but Targun got caught in a rundown for two outs on the play. Paiz followed with a double to score Mattlage and make it 5-4.
 
Texas State carried the momentum from the bottom of the seventh into the eighth defensively with Dellinger striking two batters out in a 1-2-3 inning for the Bobcat defense. The Bobcats did not allow a score in the top of the ninth either so it all came down to the bottom of the final inning for Texas State.
 
Austin O'Neal pinch hit for Targun and led off with a single. Mattlage followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Taylor Bailey, pinch running for O'Neal, to second base for Pearson. Pearson sent the ball to UTA second baseman McLemore who committed a throwing error to allow Bailey to get to third and Pearson to land safely at first. Paiz followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Bailey and tie the game, 5-5, forcing extra innings for the fifth time this season for the Bobcats.
 
In the top of the 10^th, UT Arlington was able to get a man to third base, but Lemke induced a lineout to centerfield from Shortall, UTA's top hitter, for the third out. Neither team scored in their next opportunities, but Studdard knocked his game winner in the bottom of the 11^th to give Texas State the advantage in the series and the sweep opportunity Sunday.
 
Texas State and UT Arlington will complete the weekend's series at 1 p.m. Sunday and host Rice at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday after that.