CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Texas State put on the team's most impressive performance of the season in the Kleberg College Classic finale against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Committing no errors, piling up 13 hits and 11 runs, and tallying 11 strikeouts with no runs allowed, the Bobcats dominated TAMUCC in an 11-0 run-ruled victory to improve to 5-3 on the season.
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Jonathan Hennigan put on such an impressive performance that he was able to stake a spot on the All-Tournament Team in the final game of the tournament. He struck out nine batters and only allowed two walks and four hits with no runs in six innings of work. He made it two pitchers on the All-Tournament Team for the Bobcats as
Jeremy Hallonquist also made it for his impressive performance against UCF on Saturday.
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While the pitchers were outstanding on Sunday, the Bobcat bats popped.
Luke Sherley cemented his spot on the All-Tournament Team and nearly stole the MVP award with a 3-for-4 day with two RBIs and two runs scored. The completed a tournament performance of 7-for-12 with five RBIs, a home run and three runs scored.
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He wasn't the only offense for the Bobcats on Sunday though.
Jonathan Ortega,
Granger Studdard and
Tanner Hill all tallied two hits apiece in the game, combining for five runs and two RBI. The big RBI-hitter on the day was
Ryan Newman. He hit his first career home run to score two runs and tallied his third RBI later in the game. Meanwhile, Hill struck a home run for the 100
th hit of his Texas State career.
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The Bobcats wasted no time before piling up runs on the scoreboard. Sherley continued to show off his hot bat when he shot a single through the left side and looked to start a trend. Studdard and
Theodore Hoffman followed with consecutive singles to the same spot with Hoffman plating Sherley for the early 1-0 lead. Studdard was able to score a batter later, scoring on a groundout for a quick 2-0 lead for the Bobcats.
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After a quick bottom of the first that saw two strikeouts from Hennigan, the Bobcats struck again in the second inning. Hill knocked his solo home run to left field to lead off the inning.
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In the bottom of the inning, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi threatened with a two-out triple from Justin Perales, but it would be to no avail thanks to Hennigan on the mound. With two outs and TAMUCC at third base, Hennigan struck out his fourth batter of the day to close out the inning and hold on to the 3-0 Texas State lead. He would strike out an Islander for the third out of the inning with a runner at third base three more times throughout the day, culminating with his ninth strikeout of the day with runners at second and third in the sixth inning.
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The Bobcats were able to carry the momentum into the third inning. Hoffman worked the count for a walk and his Brenham, Texas counterpart, Newman, brought him home with his first career home run. Newman struck the ball to the opposite side of the field to add two more runs to the Texas State total.
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Texas State continued to pour it on in the fourth inning.
Cody Lovejoy showed off impressive speed to stretch a routine single into a double. Behind him, Ortega knocked his first hit of the tournament to move Lovejoy to third and advanced to second himself on the throw. With runners at second and third, Sherley continued his hot streak with a base hit to the shortstop to plate Lovejoy.
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The Bobcats weren't done there. Studdard earned a walk to put runners at the corners after they were caught stealing. With that setup, Texas State pulled off the double steal with Studdard heading to second and Ortega scoring to push the Bobcat lead to 7-0.
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In the sixth inning, the Bobcats added another run to the tally when
Jared Huber crossed home plate. He reached on an error and went to second when Lovejoy earned a walk. At second base, Huber moved to third and scored on consecutive groundouts to improve the Texas State lead to 8-0.
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The Bobcat offense stayed on fire into the eighth inning. With the top of the lineup up to bat, Ortega, Sherley and Studdard hit three consecutive singles to plate Ortega and increase the Bobcat lead to 9-0. A batter later,
Nick Perez knocked a two-RBI single up the middle to score Sherley and Studdard for an 11-0 Texas State lead.
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With that, Texas State was in play for the run-ruled victory.
Calvin Bush finished the Islanders off with two strikeouts in the eighth inning, including the game-clinching strikeout to end the game. He was the second freshman to pitch on the day with
Brayden Theriot throwing the seventh, only allowing one hit and getting the needed three outs in just eight pitches.
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The Bobcats return home to host Texas on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a game that will be televised on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel. After that, Texas State will welcome Incarnate Word to San Marcos for a weekend home stand.
Junior Pitcher Jonathan Hennigan Discusses His Nine-Strikeout PerformanceFreshman Ryan Newman Talks About His Home Run and the Bobcat Offense
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