SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Texas State baseball team plated six ninth-inning runs to earn an 11-8 come-from-behind victory over UTSA Tuesday night at Roadrunner Field.
 
The Bobcats (23-23) snapped an eight-game losing streak and wrapped up their season high nine-game road swing on a positive note. The Roadrunners dropped to 22-21 on the year.
 
TXST initially took a 3-0 lead before UTSA had a chance to bat thanks in large part to sophomore Ryan Newman's sixth home run of the season. The Roadrunners countered with a four-spot in the bottom of the first, but junior Theodore Hoffman's 13th homer of the campaign tied the score at 4-4 in the top of the third.
 
This marked the fourth time this season that Hoffman and Newman homered in the same game and the first since March 17 against Coastal Carolina.
 
The home team scored twice in the bottom of the third to pull ahead 6-4, and Texas State could initially only retaliate with one tally in the top of the sixth. The Roadrunners added a pair of insurance markers in the home half of the seventh, but that just set the stage for what would become a huge comeback for the visitors.
 
Hoffman kicked off the rally with a bases-loaded walk, and sophomore Jaylen Hubbard recorded a sacrifice flyout to pull TXST within 8-7 with just one out. After junior Luke Sherley was intentionally walked, classmate Dylan Paul blasted a grand slam to put the maroon and gold ahead by the final 11-8 margin.
 
The home run was the fourth of Paul's career and his first this season. It was also Paul's first-career grand slam and the first grand slam by a Texas State player since Tanner Hill and Cedric Vallieres recorded bases-clearing home runs in back-to-back innings against UTA on May 16, 2015.

Paul went 2-for-5 with a career-high-tying four RBIs and two runs scored. He also extended his career-best hitting streak to seven games. Hubbard went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run, and Hoffman finished with two RBIs and two runs scored.
 
Junior Derek Scheible finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Sherley has now tied his career-high hit streak after hitting safely for the eighth-straight outing.
 
Sophomore Brandon Lewis started for the Bobcats on the mound and lasted 3.0 innings. He allowed six runs on seven hits to take the no-decision. Senior Brandon Courville tossed the next 3.0 frames and kept UTSA off the board, while conceding a pair of hits. Sophomore Wes Engle, and seniors Joe Powell and Quinn Atwood bridged the gap to the final four outs, which were the responsibility of Broc Bosse. The true freshman improved to 2-0 on the year after allowing no runs on just one hit in the final 1.1 innings.
 
Chance Kirby threw the first inning for the Roadrunners and allowed three runs on four hits. Derek Craft logged the next 4.0 frames and gave up two runs on four hits. Karan Patel (1-3) threw the next 3.0 innings and took the loss after giving up four runs on two hits. Cade Bullinger tossed the ninth and gave up the final two runs on one hit.
 
Ben Brookover, Trent Bowles and CJ Pickering all had two hits for UTSA. Pickering drove in two and scored twice, while Brookover tallied three runs. Bowles and Mason George both finished with two RBIs.
 
The three home runs hit by Texas State tied a season high and were the most in a single game since March 17 against Coastal Carolina. The six runs plated in the ninth were the most in a single inning since the maroon and gold brought around seven in the seventh inning against Prairie View A&M on April 4. The 11 runs for TXST was the highest in a game since April 5 against UTRGV.
 
Texas State will now return home for the first time since April 15. The Bobcats will host Georgia State in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series May 5-7 at Bobcat Ballpark.

-TxStateBobcats.com-