SAN MARCOS – Texas State piled up 19 hits Friday night, 11 off Troy's starter Grant Bennett, and scored eight runs, including six in a ninth-inning rally that fell short. In the end, the Bobcats dropped the series opener to Troy by a score of 12-8 to drop to 22-21 on the season and 10-9 in the Sun Belt.
 
The Bobcats had no problems piling up hits, coming just two shy of the team's season high of 21 hits. Ryan Newman led the squad with four while Jonathan Ortega, Jaylen Hubbard and Tanner Hill each added three hits apiece.
 
Unfortunately, six Trojan hits and three Bobcat errors in the third inning led to an early 8-0 Troy lead that proved to be insurmountable for Texas State. The Bobcats outscored Troy the rest of the way, 8-4.
 
The Bobcats will try to even the series at 3 p.m. Saturday behind Cory Geisler on the mound.
 
 
WHO STOOD OUT
Ryan Newman / IF/C / Freshman / Brenham, Texas
Newman led the team in hits Friday night, putting together the second game of his career in which he knocked four hits, boosting his multi-hit game total to 10 games. In the last three games, he has seven hits. He was only retired once as he finished 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
 
Tanner Hill / IF/C / Senior / San Marcos, Texas
Hill knocked three hits in five at bats to keep his average at the top of the list for the Bobcats. He added two RBIs to lead the team and scored once. It was his first multi-RBI game since April 5 against UTSA and first RBI he has hit since April 16 against Little Rock. That was also the last time he tallied three hits in the game.
 
Jonathan Ortega / IF / Freshman / Victoria, Texas
The freshman went 3-for-4, only getting retired once in the game. He scored once and registered five putouts and two assists. Ortega took the lead in the clubhouse for most multi-hit games with his fifth three-hit game of the season and 16^th multi-hit game of the year. The last time Ortega knocked three hits in a game was April 6 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
 
SCORING RECAP

• Top 3^rd – Troy hit a leadoff double, and the runner scored after consecutive errors by the Bobcats. A single after that plated one more, and another hit loaded the bases. After a strikeout, a Troy double plated two runs while an error on the play allowed another run to score. Another single plated the sixth run of the inning, and Troy followed with a two-run homer to go up, 8-0. (8 runs, 6 hits, 3 errors, 0 left on base)
• Top 4^th – A leadoff double put a Troy runner at second base, and he went to third on a groundout. He scored a moment later on a passed ball to put Troy up, 9-0. (1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base)
• Bottom 4^th – Jaylen Hubbard sparked the Bobcats with a leadoff single, and Tanner Hill followed with another through the right side to put runners at the corners. Hubbard was able to score on a double play groundout to put the Bobcats on the board. With two outs, Ryan Newman legged out an infield single and scored on a double to deep left centerfield from Cory Geisler to make it 9-2. (2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base)
• Top 6^th – A walk, wild pitch and a single put runners at the corners for Troy. A hit by pitch after that loaded the bases, and a fielder's choice brought in a run to put Troy up, 10-2. (1 run, 1 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on base)
• Top 8^th – With two outs, Troy knocked a double and a single to score another run and go up, 11-2. (1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base)
• Top 9^th – Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Troy. A base hit up the middle scored one for a 12-2 Troy lead. (1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on base)
• Bottom 9^th – Four consecutive singles from Derek Scheible, Jonathan Ortega, Hubbard and Hill plated two runs for the Bobcats. Newman knocked a single to centerfield to bring Hubbard in and Dylan Paul followed with a double down the first-base line to score Hill and pull the Bobcats within six, 12-6. A base hit to left field from Mickey Scott brought in another run for Texas State. An error allowed Anthony Pagano to reach base and Paul to score, closing the Troy lead to 12-8. (6 runs, 7 hits, 1 error, 2 left on base)

 
 
NOTES

• Cory Geisler made his return to the lineup for the first time since April 9 against Nevada. While he has pitched for the Bobcats since then, Friday night was his first appearance at bat since April 9. He didn't disappoint with his first two-hit game since April 6 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It is his sixth multi-hit game of the season.
• With his first hit of the game, Geisler extended his streak of consecutive games with a hit to a current team-high of nine games. The longest hitting streak this season was 15 from Granger Studdard.
• Speaking of multiple hits, five Bobcats knocked more than one hit Friday night, led by Ryan Newman with four.
• Jonathan Ortega took the lead in the clubhouse for most multi-hit games with his fifth three-hit game of the season and 16^th multi-hit game of the year. The last time Ortega knocked three hits in a game was April 6 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
• Tanner Hill increased his multi-hit total to 13 with his seventh three-hit game of the season. With two RBIs, it was his team-leading eighth multi-RBI game of the year and his first since April 5 against UTSA. The last time he had three hits in a game was when he struck four against Little Rock on April 16.  
• Ryan Newman knocked four hits in a game for the second time this year, boosting his multi-hit game total to 10 games. The only other time he struck four hits was April 5 against UTSA. In the last three games, he has seven hits.
• Cody Lovejoy entered the game to pinch hit
• Jaylen Hubbard tallied three hits for the third time this season, giving him 11 multi-hit games of the season. His last three-hit game was March 25 against South Alabama.
• Hubbard also scored two runs in the game, marking the second time this season he has been able to do that. The last time he scored two runs was March 5 against Incarnate Word.
• Mickey Scott knocked his first hit of the season in the ninth inning.
• Throwing three innings Friday night, Brayden Theriot made his longest appearance of the season.
• With 19 hits, the Bobcats came just two hits shy of the team's season-high in hits of 21.

 
 
NEXT UP
Texas State continues the series against Tory at 3 p.m. Saturday with Cory Geisler on the mound for the Bobcats against Lucas Brown for the Trojans. The series finale will be at 12 p.m. Sunday, and then the Bobcats will travel to UTSA for a road game on Tuesday.