SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State welcomed Texas to San Marcos on Tuesday night and gave the Longhorns all they could handle through 10 innings in front of a record crowd of 2,776. In a back-and-forth game, freshman
Ryan Newman brought the Bobcats back from down 4-3 with an eighth-inning home run to tie the game. Unfortunately, Texas would put together a six-run 11
th inning to clinch the game, 10-4, and drop the Bobcats to 5-4 on the season.
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In addition to Newman's home run,
Tanner Hill hit his third of the season. Both homers came after the Bobcats scored two runs in the second inning to claim an early 2-0 lead. Texas scored three in the fifth and one in the top of the sixth before Hill and Newman hit their roundtrippers to tie the game.
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A big reason the Longhorns couldn't muster any answer to the Bobcat homers late was
Pasquale Mazzoccoli. The senior reliever was outstanding for Texas State. He entered the game in the seventh inning with a man on base. The Bobcats caught the runner stealing and Mazzoccoli forced the next batter to hit into a double play. In the eighth inning, he used a fly out, strikeout and groundout to retire three of four batters. He stayed hot into the ninth with another strikeout, putting down three of four batters again. Then, in the 10
th inning, he struck out the first two batters and forced a groundout to sit the Longhorns down, 1-2-3.
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Offensively for Texas State, their best opportunity to win came in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Nick Perez led off with a single, followed by a bunt from
Jared Huber. It went down in the book as a sacrifice bunt on a fielder's choice, but both Bobcat runners were safe. With two runners on,
Cody Lovejoy sacrifice bunted both runners into scoring position, and Texas countered with an intentional walk of
Jonathan Ortega to load the bases with one out. Texas State, though, could not capitalize on the situation, going down on a fielder's choice and a groundout.
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In the seventh, the Bobcats were on the short end of another scoring opportunity. With arguably the fastest player on the team at third base in Lovejoy, Texas State tried to turn a shallow fly ball into a sacrifice fly. The Longhorns made the throw home in time to catch the speedy Lovejoy and end the inning with the double play.
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Then, finally in the 11
th inning, with Texas State going to their fourth, fifth and sixth pitchers of the night, Texas took advantage of a hit by pitch, bunt single and a walk to load the bases. From there, a walk, a single, a double, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly scored six runs for Texas for the 10-4 Longhorn win.
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Newman led the Bobcats offensively, going 3-for-5 with a home run. Perez was 2-for-4 with a run scored while Hill used a good eye to draw two walks and hit a home run, scoring two runs on a 1-for-3 night. Lovejoy also struck multiple hits, finishing 2-for-3.
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Texas State started the scoring in the second inning, and did it with two outs. Hill worked the count for a two-out walk, and Perez followed suit with another one. With runners at first and second, Huber, the team leader in two-out batting, knocked an RBI single to right centerfield for the first run of the game. Shortly after Hill scored, Perez came in on a balk from the UT pitcher to put the Bobcats up, 2-0.
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The Longhorns responded in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, UT put a man on second base with a bunt and an error. The runner went to third on a single and scored on a safety squeeze. The next batter hit an RBI double to left field to tie the game, 2-2. Texas kept the rally going with a base hit through the right side to score one more and take a 3-2 lead.
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Texas did some more damage in the top of the sixth, adding one run with two outs. After a single and a steal from Travis Jones, Kody Clemens hit a big triple to left field to push the Texas lead to 4-2.
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Hill continued to have an impressive day with two outs. After two walks on the night, the first with two outs, Hill struck his homer. It was a solo shot with two outs to pull the Bobcats within one, 4-3. After a scoreless seventh, Newman followed Hill's lead with a solo bomb to the right field power alley. His second home run of the season and in the last two games tied it up, 4-4.
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From there, both teams battled until Texas was able to take it in the 11
th inning. Texas State next hosts Incarnate Word for a weekend home stand with games at 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. After that, the Bobcats will travel to Waco for a road midweek game against Baylor before going to Monroe, La., to open Sun Belt Conference action against UL Monroe.
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