STATESBORO, Ga. – Texas State made it interesting in the final game of the series against Georgia Southern, but the Bobcats used clutch hitting in the ninth inning to secure a 4-3 victory and complete the series sweep. With the win, the Bobcats improve to 18-10 overall and 9-3 in the Sun Belt Conference, finishing the weekend in sole possession of second place in the SBC.
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Texas State held onto a 1-0 lead most of the game until the seventh inning when Georgia Southern scored two runs to go ahead. The Eagles added a run in the bottom of the eighth to push the Eagle lead to 3-1. Unfazed, the Bobcats struck back in the ninth, scoring three runs for the 4-3 win.
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Ryan Newman drew a walk to lead off the inning, and
Cory Geisler followed with a single through the left side. With runners at first and second,
Luke Sherley laid down a sacrifice bunt, but the Georgia Southern third baseman committed a two-base error to allow Newman to score and Geisler and Sherley to advance to second and third.
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With both runners in scoring position,
Theodore Hoffman pinch hit. He put the ball in play on a groundout to plate Geisler and tie the game, 3-3. After that,
Mickey Scott pinch hit and sent a fly ball to deep centerfield for a sacrifice fly, scoring Sherley and putting the Bobcats on top for good.
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Pasquale Mazzoccoli earned his sixth save of the season with solid work in the bottom of the ninth. He struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches and followed that with a nice snag on a comebacker, getting it to first base in time for the second out. After a single and a walk, Mazzoccoli induced a grounder to
Jaylen Hubbard who secured the game with the unassisted putout at third.
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Geisler was impressive in his second weekend start on the mound. He went 6.1 innings with six strikeouts and only gave up one earned run, but he wasn't even on the mound for that.
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Granger Studdard and
Jonathan Ortega led the team in hitting Sunday with two apiece. Studdard added a walk on his 2-for-3 day. Hubbard and Geisler had the other hits for the Bobcats.
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Texas State started the scoring in the top of the third.
Cody Lovejoy took a base due to a hit by pitch to lead off the inning and Ortega followed with a double to right field. With runners at second and third base, Hubbard knocked a single through the left side to plate Lovejoy and put the Bobcats up, 1-0. He had the only RBI for the Bobcats until the ninth inning.
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Texas State would go on to load the bases with no outs in the inning, but a line drive and a double play ended the Bobcat at-bat. As the Bobcats loaded the bases in the third, they looked to have Georgia Southern starter Brian Eichhorn on the ropes, but he rebounded by forcing a line out and a double play to limit Texas State. After the Bobcats loaded the bases, Eichhorn went on to retire the next eight Bobcats and 10 of 11 batters faced into the sixth inning before taking a seat.
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Georgia Southern's relief continued the streak to make it six more consecutive Bobcats retired after Eichhorn left the game, making it 16 of 17 Bobcat bats to go down before Studdard
reached on an error in the eighth inning. The streak would not continue as the Bobcats came up big in the ninth for the victory.
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Texas State begins a busy week when the Bobcats host UTSA for the second meeting of the season between the teams at 6 p.m. Tuesday. After that, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes to San Marcos for a 6 p.m. game Wednesday followed by a weekend series against non-conference opponent Nevada.
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