SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State fell to No. 10 Rice Wednesday night, 14-5, dropping the Bobcats to 1-1 against ranked opponents this season after a thrilling upset of No. 3 Houston back on Feb. 25. Texas State stands at 5-10-1 overall on the year and 2-1 in the Sun Belt Conference as the Bobcats prepare to take the road to face Appalachian State in the team's second conference series of the season.
 
Freshman Derek Scheible led the Bobcats at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance, knocking in an RBI while Cory Geisler, Ben McElroy, Granger Studdard, Dylan Paul and Mickey Scott each tallied a hit in the game.
 
Paul, another freshman for Texas State, made his hit count, knocking in two RBI in Texas State's big sixth inning and scoring the team's fifth run on a Scheible single. Meanwhile, Cedric Vallieres worked the Rice pitchers for three walks in the game.
 
Scott jump started Texas State's offense in the sixth inning with a double to right centerfield in a pinch hit situation. Geisler followed with another double to plate Scott, and then McElroy made it three consecutive hits with a single after that to put runners at the corners.
 
A batter later, Studdard singled to right field to plate Geisler and push McElroy to second, forcing a pitching change from Rice. Both runners advanced on a fly out after that, then Paul brought in Studdard and McElroy with his hit. After a Vallieres walk, Scheible sent his hit up the middle to score Paul and make it a five-run inning for Texas State.
 
In most games, that would be an offensive explosion, but, unfortunately for the Bobcats, they would need much more as Rice scored 14 runs in the first three innings. After a run in the first, the Owls scored four in the second, aided by an error and three hits. In the third, Rice exploded for nine runs with seven hits and a Texas State error. After that, though, the Bobcats held Rice scoreless the rest of the way, not allowing a run in the final five Rice at-bats.
 
On the mound, Tyler Giovanoni did well for himself with two strikeouts in the sixth inning, his only inning to pitch. Joe Powell and Jeremy Hallonquist also notched strikeouts in the game for the Bobcats.
 
Texas State will look to keep the team's winning record in Sun Belt Conference action as the team travels to Boone, N.C. for an SBC series against Appalachian State over the weekend. After that, the Bobcats return to San Marcos to host UTSA at 6 p.m. Tuesday before taking the road again for an SBC series at South Alabama.