STATESBORO, Ga. – Texas State had a big day on Saturday en route to two victories over Georgia Southern to claim sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt Conference. The Bobcats, now 17-10 overall and 8-3 in the SBC, beat the Eagles, 4-3 and 7-3, with home runs from
Ryan Newman,
Theodore Hoffman and
Tanner Hill. Most impressively though,
Lucas Humpal broke the school record for career strikeouts with four in the game to give him 242 in his career.
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In addition to Humpal, the Bobcats also saw great performances on the mound from
Jeremy Hallonquist,
Chase Hodson and
Pasquale Mazzoccoli. Those three, along with Humpal, combined for 14 strikeouts on the day.
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Humpal put on a gutsy performance Saturday, picking up his fifth win of the season. He threw 121 pitches and gave up two earned runs on five hits in eight innings of work. But the big number for Humpal was his four strikeouts, exactly what he needed to become the Texas State strikeout king. With four strikeouts Saturday, Humpal now has 242 career strikeouts to break the previous record, 241, set by Bobby Sawicki in 2005.
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Mazzoccoli kept the strong pitching performance going with his fifth save of the season in the ninth inning of game one. He struck out one and gave up just one hit in the inning to secure the victory for the Bobcats. Meanwhile, Hallonquist went seven innings and 106 pitches, giving up two earned but striking out five.
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In the eighth inning of game two, Hodson entered with bases loaded and no outs. He was able to limit the Eagles to just one run in the inning. He would strike out four in two innings of work to keep the Bobcats on top and close out the day.
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Hodson, though, received support from his offense when Hill hit his ninth home run of the season, a three-run shot to open the game up, 7-3. Hill was the third homer of the day as Hoffman knocked one in the eighth inning of game two and Newman put the Bobcats up 3-2 with a solo homer in the eighth inning of game one. It was the fourth home run of the season for both Newman and Hoffman.
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Also on offense,
Cory Geisler led the Bobcats in hits Saturday, going 4-for-8 with four consecutive hits from his final at-bat of game one through his first in game two.
Granger Studdard tallied three hits on the day with two RBIs while Newman and
Jonathan Ortega both struck two hits.
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After giving up two runs in the second inning of the first game, one on a homer and another after two errors, the Bobcats struck back to tie the game in the top of the sixth inning. Ortega jumpstarted the offense with a base hit to left field and went all the way to third base on a single to right centerfield from Hubbard. With runners at the corners, Studdard sent a single straight up the middle to plate Ortega and cut the Georgia Southern lead in half, 2-1.
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With Hubbard at second base and Studdard at first, Hill hit a slow grounder. The pitcher was able to get to it, but as he tried to catch Studdard at second he threw it into the outfield for an error. Hubbard scored on the play to tie the game for the Bobcats, 2-2.
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The Bobcats faced their second pitcher of the day starting in the eighth inning when Georgia Southern called in top reliever Landon Hughes. With a righty on the mound, Texas State pinch hit Newman, a lefty hitter. The freshman rewarded the Bobcat coaches for the call with a solo home run to lead off the inning and put Texas State ahead, 3-2. It was the first earned run Hughes had given up in relief this season.
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Georgia Southern responded with a run on two hits in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game, but Texas State scored the winning run in the ninth inning. To lead off, Hill was hit by a pitch. He waited through two outs, but went all the way to third base on a well-executed hit-and-run from Geisler. From third, Hill scored the winning run on a two-out, two-strike wild pitch to help the Bobcats improve to 16-10 on the season and 7-3 in conference play.
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The second game of the day started with four scoreless innings, but the Bobcats broke that streak with two runs in the top of the fifth. Texas State took advantage of three Georgia Southern errors and used a hit from Geisler to score. Both
Luke Sherley and Geisler scored the first two runs of game two for the Bobcats.
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Later, in the seventh inning, Geisler led off with his third hit of the game. He was able to move to second base on a
Felipe Rodriguez bunt single. A fielder's choice pushed Geisler to third base, and he scored on a Studdard double that landed just fair in left field, pushing the Bobcat lead to 3-0.
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The Eagles struck back with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but Hoffman sent out a huge home run in the eighth inning to give the Bobcats back a two-run cushion, 4-2. Georgia Southern was able to score another run in the bottom of the eighth, but Hodson did strong work on the mound to limit the Eagles to just one run in the inning as he entered with bases loaded and no outs.
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Then, with a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning, Hill made sure the Bobcats had breathing room before going to the ninth. With one out, Ortega jumpstarted the inning with a single up the middle. After he stole a base, Studdard drew a walk to put two men on base for Hill. Hill broke the game open with his ninth home run of the season, a big three-run shot, to give Texas State a 7-3 lead and sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt Conference.
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Texas State and Georgia Southern will meet for the series finale at 12 p.m. CST/1 p.m. EST on Sunday with Geisler on the mound for the Bobcats.
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