SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team led wire-to-wire and collected a 9-5 triumph over ULM in a Sun Belt Conference showdown Friday night at Bobcat Ballpark.
 
The Bobcats (21-15, 8-6 SBC) snapped a four-game losing skid, while dropping the Warhawks to 10-26 overall and 5-9 in the league. The victory also evened the weekend series at one game each.
 
TXST plated a trio of first-inning runs and never looked back, tacking on two more in the fourth, one in the fifth and three final tallies in the seventh. The maroon and gold has now scored in the first inning (and was also the first team to score) in each of the team's last nine Sun Belt games.
 
Leading the way on the mound was senior Joe Powell (1-0), who tossed a career-high 5.2 innings of relief to earn the third victory of his career and first since his sophomore year. He conceded three runs (two earned) on six hits, while striking out three and walking two. Sophomore Wes Engle started on the mound and left after allowing two runs on three hits in 3.1 frames. He also struck out five and walked five.
 
Junior Theodore Hoffman was responsible for three of Texas State's 12 hits. He belted his team-leading 12th home run of the season to leadoff the fifth inning and finished a triple shy of the cycle. He tallied two RBIs and scored three times, while extending his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games. He has now hit safely in 30 of 36 games played in 2017.
 
Sophomore Jaylen Hubbard entered the weekend series with one career home run – coming last season – and he has now hit round-trippers in back-to-back games after registering an inside-the-park homer in the seventh.
 
Sophomore Felipe Rodriguez went 2-for-4, and classmate Jonathan Ortega scored twice.
 
ULM finished with just nine hits and committed six errors.
 
Tyler Cox and Anthony Herrera both went 2-for-4. Cox posted two RBIs, and Nathan Reynolds scored twice.
 
Starter Chase Beal (3-4) was tagged with the loss after conceding six runs on seven hits across the first 4.0 frames. The Warhawks burned through four more pitchers, who combined to allow three additional runs on five hits.
 
The two teams will jockey for the series victory beginning at 1 p.m. April 15.
 
TEXAS STATE COACH TY HARRINGTON
Opening Statement…
"I was proud of the efforts of Joe Powell tonight. He gutted his way through that last inning. Emotionally he wanted to finish the game, and he did. He was hard to elevate. Everything he threw was down the whole time. In the ninth it got a little goofy for us, but the reality was he was probably out of gas. He pitched four innings last week (against Little Rock), but going (5.2 innings) is not something we've historically done with him. I'm not sure the last time he's thrown that long. Probably in high school or his freshman year in college."
 
On Theodore Hoffman…
"He's been really good this season. The key to Teddy is when he doesn't chase outside the strike zone. If he's not chasing and he slows down a bit, then he has a good chance to do what he did tonight. He can get himself out, but he can do some good things when he's locked into the strike zone."
 
On offensive production from the catchers…
"It's unbelievable for us. Both of our catchers have had opportunities offensively where they've been really good for us. Felipe (Rodriguez) jumped in there again tonight and did well. It's not the first time that he's done that. My hats off to him. He worked hard back there behind the plate the first three innings. He went to his knees often to block balls and keep runners from advancing. He stayed fresh through the game and his at-bats were good."
 
On Jaylen Hubbard…
"He's been good this past week. When we were playing at a high level offensively about two or three weeks ago, Jaylen was critical for us because he had so many two-out hits. He went through a small curve in the road where he was not holding onto the plan like he normally does. When Jaylen's locked in, he's a very dangerous and exciting hitter."

-TxStateBobcats.com-