SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team defeated Rice 13-4 Wednesday night at Bobcat Ballpark.
 
The Bobcats (10-7) picked up their first midweek victory of the season, snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Owls (6-13) and also collected their seventh win overall in their last eight outings.
 
Texas State plated solo tallies in each of the first two innings, and the visitors tied the game at 2-2 with runs of their own in the top of the third and fourth frames.
 
The maroon and gold busted the game open with a seven-spot in the home half of the fourth and added another four runs the rest of the way to secure the nine-run triumph. The runs in the fourth inning were the most scored in a single frame this season.
 
TXST outhit Rice 14-9 and also did not commit an error in the field for the third time in the last four games.
 
Sophomore Jacob Almendarez led the Bobcats at the plate with a 3-for-5 effort. He scored once and tied his career high with two runs driven in. Juniors Luke Sherley and Derek Scheible, along with sophomores Ryan Newman and Jaylen Hubbard all had two hits.
 
Newman drove in a pair of runs and scored once. Junior Travon Benton had an RBI and two runs scored. Junior Theodore Hoffman belted his team-leading fifth home run of the season to finish with three RBI and two runs scored. Junior Jared Huber recorded a career-high three runs scored.
 
Junior Cam Baird earned the starting nod on the mound and left after allowing just two runs on five hits in 3.2 frames. He struck out four and walked two. True freshman Broc Bosse (1-0) earned the first win of his career after sitting down both batters he faced in relief.
 
Senior Brandon Courville, junior Blake Walden, sophomore Brayden Theriot and true freshmen Zachary Leigh and Shane Daughety combined to throw the final 4.2 innings. Courville, Leigh and Theriot conceded zero runs on just one hit altogether.
 
For the Owls, starter Nick Orewiler (0-2) took the loss after giving up four runs on three hits in 3.0 frames. Rice used seven relievers in the contest and only three did not allow a run.
 
Ford Proctor was the only member of the visiting team to register multiple hits, and he finished 2-for-4.
 
Texas State is now set for one of its toughest challenges of the season, as the maroon and gold will play host to defending national champion and No. 20-ranked Coastal Carolina for three games March 17-19. This will be the first-ever meetings between the two schools, and the games will also serve as the Sun Belt Conference openers for both programs. The March 18 bout will be broadcast regionally on Spectrum Sports.
 
TEXAS STATE COACH TY HARRINGTON
Opening Statement…
"Cam (Baird) had pretty decent stuff tonight. We were scheduled to let him go as high as 70 pitches if we were ahead and doing well. We also had that fine line where we had to make that decision moving forward for the weekend. We had a lot of guys we wanted to get into the game on the mound. We've had some success in situations like this with games on Wednesday's. But it can be tough, because you only have 24 hours to flip your staff around to get ready for a game on Friday night. We've had success running guys out for one-inning stints. It doesn't give the opponent long to see what our guys can do. It keeps our guys sharp. It also gives us a chance to win, as well. I was proud of the pitching, and I was also pleased with the defensive side of the baseball. Guys were getting after it and chasing the baseball down late in the game. Maybe it looked like the game was in balance late, but our guys were still running around playing hard."
 
On the hitting efforts with Rice throwing eight pitchers…
"We had good at-bats tonight. We didn't expand the zone very much, meaning we didn't chase many balls in the dirt. It shows the guys were locked in and focused. A lot of the time, when guys aren't focused, they're up there just hacking at whatever comes their way. I thought we had great offensive focus tonight."
 
On preparing to host the defending national champions…
"I'm excited for our conference that we have a national champion representing us. People don't really understand that (Coastal Carolina) was the last team standing a year ago. All of these teams that played Division I baseball last year, and they were the last time standing. For them to be in our conference has brought a tremendous amount of respect for the Sun Belt. Playing a team of this caliber always adds a different kind of edge to the game. I'm excited to have them here and to see them in person."

-TxStateBobcats.com-