Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas – Texas State was so close to scoring the first run of the game in the eighth after seven scoreless innings, but UT Arlington was able to make the play at the plate. The Mavericks answered in the bottom of the inning with the only run of the game to beat the Bobcats, 1-0, and take the series. With the loss, Texas State drops to 28-25 on the season and 16-13 in Sun Belt Conference play.
 
The Mavericks ensured at least a third seed in the SBC Championship Tournament with the series win while the Bobcats will likely be fourth.
 
Texas State produced either team's best opportunity to score up to the top of the eighth inning. Tyler Pearson drew a leadoff walk and Cody Perkins pushed him to second base on a sacrifice bunt. After that, UT Arlington intentionally walked David Paiz, and Taylor Bailey followed with an impressive infield single to load the bases with just one out for the Bobcats in an inning in which UT Arlington used three pitchers.
 
Cody Lovejoy was next up to bat and hit a fly ball to short centerfield that had all the looks to be a sacrifice fly, but the centerfielder made the throw to home for a play at the plate. The umpire called Pearson out on a bang bang play at the plate for which either team's fans could have made a case. With that, the opportunity was gone and UTA came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth.
 
The Mavericks capitalized on the opportunity. Ryan Bottger singled and John Michael Twichell walked to put runners at first and second base for UT Arlington. Greg McCall, a Bobcat killer this weekend, followed with a single through the right side to score Bottger and claim a 1-0 UTA lead. That would be enough.
 
There wasn't much offense throughout the game with both teams finishing with six hits apiece. Taylor Black went six scoreless innings only giving up four hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Black, Cory Geisler and Dylan Bein combined for seven strikeouts on the night while UT Arlington finished with five.
 
The Bobcats only had three base runners with their best early opportunity coming in the top of the fifth. Ben McElroy hit his second hit of the day and stole second base to put a Bobcat in scoring position for the first time in the game, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the opportunity.
 
The Mavericks best early opportunity came in the fourth when Bottger hit a single and Matt Shortall followed with a double to put runners at second and third base, but a groundout to Austin O'Neal at first ended UTA's chance.
 
UT Arlington had an even better situation in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Bottger reached on an error and Shortall followed with a single to push Bottger all the way to third base. Next, Twichell earned a walk to load the bases for McCall, UTA's weekend hero. Taylor Black struck McCall out with bases loaded to keep the game scoreless through six.
 
After Black's big strikeout, the Bobcats came out strong for the seventh. Colby Targun led off with a single through the left side and Granger Studdard followed with an infield single. Unfortunately for Texas State, the next play was a double play, but it pushed Targun to third base. Maverick centerfielder Derek Miller made a running catch on a McElroy hit to deep center to rob the Bobcats of runs in the seventh.
 
Texas State and UT Arlington will play the series finale at 2 p.m. Sunday. Lucas Humpal will lead the Bobcats on the mound for the team's final regular season game before heading to the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament next week.