Box Score SAN MARCOS – Texas State dropped the series to South Alabama, 2-1, with a Sunday loss, 7-2, at Bobcat Ballpark. The Jaguars used early scoring and timely hitting to drop the Bobcats to 18-13 on the season and 7-5 in Sun Belt Conference play.
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Colby Targun led the Bobcats with two hits and an RBI on the day.
Ben McElroy knocked the other RBI for Texas State while
Austin O'Neal and
Trey Hicks scored the Bobcat runs. Outside of Targun and McElroy, five other Bobcats tallied a hit for eight on the day.
South Alabama scored a run in each of the first three innings. The Jaguars earned an early lead with two outs in the top of the first inning. Cole Gleason, the third hitter, earned a walk and scored after consecutive singles, one of which nailed starting pitcher
Lucas Humpal in the upper leg.
In the second inning, USA's Drew LaBounty knocked a fly ball to right center which looked to be caught by
Preston Dorsey on an outstanding diving play, but the umpire ruled that it landed for a hit. LaBounty would score on an Adam Ballew single after getting sacrifice bunted to second.
LaBounty, who hit the tying and winning RBI for South Alabama Friday night, came through for the Jaguars again in the third inning after scoring in the second. Connor Hawthorne knocked a two-out double, and LaBounty followed with another one to push the lead to 3-0.
The Bobcats put their first run on the board in the third. Hicks led off with a single through the right side. Dorsey sacrifice bunted Hicks to second and the third baseman scored on a two-out base knock from Targun.
Texas State kept the momentum rolling with a strong 1-2-3 defensive inning in the top of the fourth, and the bats kept popping with three hits in the bottom of the inning. O'Neal led off with a single and
Granger Studdard knocked one to the same spot in right field in the next at bat. McElroy brought in O'Neal to pull within one, 3-2, with a hit through the right side.
The Bobcat defense turned an impressive double play to start the fifth. With a runner at first, O'Neal scooped up a grounder and got it to
Garrett Mattlage at second. With the lead runner out, Mattlage fired it back to first, covered by Humpal who hustled over to finish off the play. Texas State ended the inning with a groundout to Mattlage.
A walk, an error and a fielder's choice helped South Alabama add another run in the top of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 4-2, but the Bobcats tallied another double play in the seventh. With a man on third, Studdard caught a fly ball in left field and rifled it to
Tyler Pearson to catch the runner trying to score for the final out of the top half of the inning.
With a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth, South Alabama added three more runs, and the 7-2 lead proved to be insurmountable for the Bobcats in the final inning.
Texas State returns to the road for a midweek game at Houston at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday followed by a Sun Belt Conference series at UL Monroe over the weekend and a midweek at UTSA.
