Box Score

SAN MARCOS – Texas State played a complete game in all phases to earn an 8-1 victory over Georgia State. Starter Austen Williams went eight innings, struck out eight, walked one and only gave up five hits and one earned run against one of the most powerful offenses in the Sun Belt Conference. In addition, the Bobcat bats put up 12 hits and the defense did not commit an error in the game to improve to 20-17 on the season and 9-7 in the SBC.
 
Williams held the top of Georgia State's powerful lineup to just a 1-for-12 night. All four hitters were batting .303 or higher with Chase Raffield leading the team at .357 and Nic Wilson just behind him at .356. Wilson leads the Sun Belt in home runs with 12 on the year, but did not tally a hit in Friday's game.
 
Meanwhile, Texas State's top of the lineup was on fire. Granger Studdard knocked three hits while Matt Smith, Garrett Mattlage and Cory Geisler each tallied two in the game. One of Mattlage's hits was a home run in the first inning to start off the Bobcats. The foursome finished the night 9-for-17 (.529) with six RBI.
 
Mattlage's second homer of the season went over the left field fence. He hit it on an 0-2 count with two outs in the inning. After that, the Bobcats kept the momentum rolling into the second inning when Trey Hicks, Smith and Tanner Hill turned a double play for the first two outs. A groundout ended the inning.
 
Texas State added another run in the bottom of the third to start a streak of four consecutive innings in which the Bobcats scored. Geisler reached on a fielder's choice and scored all the way from first base on a double to left center from Studdard for a 2-0 Bobcat lead.
 
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Texas State kept piling on. Cody Lovejoy led off with a walk and advanced to second on a Hicks single. Hicks finished the day 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Both runners advanced a base on a throwing error from Georgia State catcher Joey Roach. Smith was next to put the ball in play, dropping it in shallow center field for a single and plating Lovejoy. Hicks scored next on a Tyler Pearson sacrifice fly for a 4-0 Texas State lead.
 
Studdard started the Bobcats in the fifth inning with a walk. He advanced on an error when GSU shortstop Caden Bailey couldn't handle a Hill hit. After going to third on a fielder's choice, Studdard came in on a hit from Hicks to right center.
 
In the sixth inning, the Bobcats busted the game open with three more runs on three hits and a walk to push the lead to 8-0. Smith led off with a walk to reach base for the third time on the night. After a groundout, Mattlage knocked his second hit of the game, a double, to score Smith. After that, Mattlage scored on a Geisler single, and Studdard followed with a double down the right line to plate Geisler.
 
Georgia State finally jumped on the board with a run in the top of the seventh. They would not score the rest of the way though, especially in the eighth inning thanks to Mattlage and Williams. Williams tallied his seventh and eighth strikeouts on both sides of a Mattlage foul ball catch. He was able to make the catch far away from his normal position despite running into the wall down the left field line.
 
In the ninth, Andrew Boes came in to finish off the Panthers. He struck out one batter and forced a 1-2-3 inning with a groundout and a pop up.
 
Texas State and Georgia State will continue the series with a 3 p.m. start on Saturday. On Easter Sunday, the two teams will play at 1 p.m. Sunday.