SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team kicked off its weekend series against Alabama A&M with a 7-2 triumph Friday night at Bobcat Ballpark.
The contest was initially delayed 36 minutes due to rain in the area, but the Bobcats (7-7) were able to take the field and earn the victory over the Bulldogs (4-12).
The maroon and gold took the early lead on a solo home run in the second inning from junior
Theodore Hoffman. He then hit an RBI double in the third and later recorded an RBI groundout in the eighth to finish 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored.
Junior
Derek Scheible pushed TXST's lead to 4-1 when he ripped a two-RBI double in the bottom of the fourth. Junior
Luke Sherley and sophomore
Jaylen Hubbard added RBI singles in the seventh before Hoffman completed the scoring in the eighth.
Hubbard and sophomore
Jonathan Ortega each had two of Texas State's 11 hits. Ortega scored twice.
Sophomores
Anthony Pagano and
Connor Reich combined to record a season-high 14 strikeouts on the mound for Texas State. Pagano started the game and punched out a career-high eight batters, while logging the first 4.0 innings. Reich (1-1) earned his first win as a Bobcat after posting career highs in both innings pitched (5.0) and strikeouts (6).
Caleb Gay (0-2) tossed a complete game for the Bulldogs. He conceded seven runs (five earned) on 11 hits in 8.0 innings, while walking four and striking out none.
The last time Texas State did not strikeout in a game was April 7, 2013 against Sacramento State.
Kyle Redmond went 2-for-3 and had one third of Alabama A&M's hits. Redmond and Zeth Malcom scored AAMU's runs.
The Bulldogs and Bobcats will continue their series at 4 p.m. March 11.
TEXAS STATE COACH TY HARRINGTON
Opening Statement…
"Anthony (Pagano) and Connor (Reich) both pitched well tonight. Anthony was not as efficient, numbers-wise, as we would have liked to see. He was up to 85 pitches when we went to go get him. His stuff was good, though. That was a lot of strikeouts for us (14), which is something we have not done this year. The beautiful thing when you strike out the other team, then nobody else has to play. (Alabama A&M) had a little bit of momentum in the fifth, but Connor came into the game and was able to minimize the damage. He threw really well. His stuff was just as good in the ninth as it was in the fifth. He was coming off two days rest after throwing two innings against UTSA (on Tuesday), so I was pleased with how he pitched."
On the offensive performance…
"We hit too many fly balls. We left 10 on base, but hopefully tomorrow we come out tomorrow with a little different approach. I was proud of (Alabama A&M pitcher Caleb Gay). He threw 157 pitches, and he was still throwing it in there in the end. It takes a lot of guts to do something like that. He did a good job for them. He was able to keep the ball down and keep us off balance."
On the defensive effort…
"We played great defense tonight. The play in the ninth inning was big for us. (
Jaylen Hubbard) made a nice play to get the second out. We threw a guy out at the plate (in the fourth inning). The game was 2-0 at the time and
Luke Sherley made a nice play. Derek (Scheible) got it in from center field and Sherley made a nice play to throw him out at home."
-TxStateBobcats.com-
