Box Score

LAFAYETTE, La. – Texas State handed UL Lafayette just its third Sun Belt Conference loss of the season with a dominating 10-3 victory in Saturday's game. The Bobcats racked up 15 hits and two home runs on the day, utilizing a five-run fourth inning to bust the game open.
 
The Bobcats handled ULL pitcher Carson Baranik with ease. The pitcher came into the game with an 8-0 record and a 2.78 ERA, but Texas State was able to put nine hits and six earned runs on him to force him out of the game after just 3.1 innings of work without a strikeout.
 
On the mound for the Bobcats, Texas State's Taylor Black tallied eight strikeouts in eight innings, only allowing two earned runs and walking none. But it was the Texas State run support that helped the Bobcats earn the statement win.
 
Garrett Mattlage was an impressive 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored punctuated by his two-run homer in the fifth. Cory Geisler added three hits and a home run in the leadoff spot while Trey Hicks added two. All three finished the day with two RBI each. Every Bobcat batter in the game knocked at least one hit.
 
Tyler Pearson started the Texas State scoring when he hit Ben McElroy in from second in the second inning. McElroy knocked a leadoff single and, after moving to second, scored on a triple from Pearson. Just after, Pearson scored on a wild pitch to give the Bobcats an early 2-0 lead.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns answered with one run in the bottom of the second, but Texas State kept on them. In the third, Granger Studdard hit a single up the middle and moved his way around to third. He scored on a Hicks single to make it 3-1.
 
Then the Bobcats put the game out of reach with five runs in the fourth. Cody Perkins reached on a walk and Geisler sent an 0-1 pitch far to left field to give the Bobcats a 5-1 lead. After that, Mattlage walked and Studdard was hit by a pitch. With those two on, Cameron Friess, in a pinch hitting role, knocked a double down the right line to plate Mattlage. Studdard came in on a sacrifice fly from Tanner Hill, and Friess scored the fifth run of the inning on an infield single from Hicks.
 
After the fourth-inning onslaught, Mattlage knocked his home run, a two-run shot to right field to put the Bobcats up 10-1. UL Lafayette added a run each in the seventh and eighth, but Dylan Bein came in to shut down the ninth inning and finish off the big win for Texas State.
 
Lucas Humpal will be on the mound for the Bobcats in the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday, and the Bobcat bats will face Cody Boutte.