ATLANTA – Texas State piled up season highs in hits and runs and received great pitching from Lucas Humpal to dominate Sun Belt Conference leader Georgia State in the series opener by a score of 12-2 Friday night. The Bobcats scored 12 runs on 16 hits without an error on an evening in which everything came together in a complete performance for Texas State to improve to 19-25-1 on the year and 11-11 in the SBC. The Bobcats scored in every inning but the second and fourth.
 
Eight Texas State batters knocked a hit in the game while six of them finished with multiple hits. Both Cory Geisler and Tanner Hill finished with three hits apiece while Hill sent out his sixth home run of the season. David Paiz knocked the second home run of his Texas State career as well as a first-inning single for a team-high three RBI. Both Hill and Ben McElroy finished with two RBI apiece.
 
In one of the more interesting stat lines of the game, Cedric Vallieres scored three runs and was never retired in six trips to the batter's box, but finished with one hit. He piled up three walks and reached twice on a hit by pitch.
 
Meanwhile, on the mound, Lucas Humpal dominated one of the better offensive teams in the Sun Belt. He went 7.1 innings, but through seven he had not given up a run and had tallied six strikeouts with just five hits. He would finish with seven hits and a run allowed, but seven strikeouts on 109 pitches.
 
Humpal handled the nation's leading home run hitter, striking out Matt Rose twice and forcing a groundout. In four at bats, Rose only knocked a double in the eighth. In the first seven innings, Humpal only gave up a single to the top three hitters in the lineup.
 
After Braden Pearson came in to force consecutive groundouts to end the eighth, Justin Dellinger closed the game out with solid pitching in the ninth inning. He added a strikeout to give Texas State eight for the night.
 
The Bobcats jumped out early, led by a leadoff single from Geisler. He had to leg out an infield bouncer, but it proved to be big for Texas State. Vallieres followed with his first hit by pitch of the night. Studdard moved both runners into scoring position with a deep fly ball, then Hill loaded the bases with a walk. McElroy knocked in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly, and Paiz brought in Vallieres with a base hit through the left side.
 
Humpal and the Bobcat defense sat down Georgia State, 1-2-3, in both the first and second innings. Then, in the top of the third, Texas State pushed the lead to 5-0. Vallieres jumped on base with a walk and stole second. He went to third on a fly ball, and McElroy knocked him in with a single through the right side. With McElroy on base, Paiz sent his homer out to right centerfield to complete a three-run inning. Up, 5-0, Texas State never looked back.
 
In the fifth, Hill led off with a rocket double down the left field line and came in on a two-out double from Colby Targun. He finished with two hits, two runs, a walk and an RBI. McElroy and Hill also added two runs. Targun was able to score a batter later off Jared Huber's first single of the day.
 
The Bobcats went on to score a run in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, capped by Hill's solo home runs in the eight. In the ninth, Georgia State walked Targun, Huber and Vallieres and gave up a single to Geisler. Vallieres picked up an RBI on a bases-loaded walk, and Granger Studdard knocked in another run with a single.
 
Georgia State scored a run each in the eighth and ninth innings, but that's all the Panthers could manage against the Bobcats on a night in which everything went right.
 
Both teams play Saturday at 1 p.m. CST/2 p.m. EST with Scott Grist on the mound for the Bobcats.