STATESBORO, Ga. – The Texas State baseball team earned a 3-2 victory over Little Rock Thursday night in the first round of the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Championship at J.I. Clements Stadium.
 
The Bobcats (28-29), seeded No. 8 in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals and will face top seed and No. 18-ranked Coastal Carolina at 3 p.m. May 26. The Chanticleers have been on a tear as of last, winning each of their last 11 games against Sun Belt competition.
 
The opening-round matchup between TXST and the Trojans (21-34) was originally scheduled to take place May 23, but rain showers in the area forced the tournament to be postponed by two days. The entire format is now being played under single-elimination rules.
 
Texas State struck first against Little Rock in the bottom of the first. After back-to-back two out singles from sophomore Jaylen Hubbard and junior Theodore Hoffman, fellow junior Dylan Paul lofted a single down the right field line that drove home Hubbard.
 
Little Rock plated runs in both the fourth and sixth frames to take a 2-1 lead, but the Bobcats used more two-out magic to secure the victory.
 
Sophomore Ryan Newman came on to pinch hit with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, and he massaged a single up the middle to keep the inning alive. Junior Zacri Sanders ran for Newman and later scored on a single to right field from sophomore Jacob Almendarez. Sanders was initially moved over to second on a single through the left side from sophomore Felipe Rodriguez.
 
The Trojans sat down the first two Texas State hitters on just three pitches in the bottom of the eighth, but the game-winning sequence would begin shortly thereafter. Hoffman roped a single to center field and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Paul earned a full-count walk to place two aboard, and that led to the first replay in SBC Championship history.
 
Junior Luke Sherley hit a soft grounder to the shortstop, who attempted to record the force out at second base. Paul beat the throw, and Hoffman was then caught in a rundown after overrunning third base. After a misplayed throw at home plate, Hoffman tried to slide under the tag but was ruled out by the umpire. The call was close enough to warrant a replay, and the video evidence showed that Hoffman was, in fact, safe on the play.
 
That proved to be all Texas State would need as the Trojans were unable to register the equalizer.
 
True freshman Nicholas Fraze tossed his seventh quality start of the season to hold LR at bay. He conceded just two runs on eight hits in 6.0 innings of work. Sophomore Brayden Theriot (6-1) was nearly perfect in 3.0 innings of relief to earn the victory. He only gave up one hit and did not allow a run.
 
Hoffman finished 2-for-4 and scored the game-winning run. The two RBIs came from Paul and Almendarez.
 
Cameron Knight finished 3-for-3 with an RBI for Little Rock, while Kale Emshoff was 2-for-3 and Nik Gifford scored twice. Dalton Thomas, the Preseason SBC Player of the Year, went just 1-for-5. Riley Pittman entered the contest on a 15-game hitting streak but went 0-for-5.
 
Starter Cory Malcom gave up two runs on seven hits across 7.0 frames. Justin Garcia (2-1) was saddled with his first defeat after giving up the game-winning run on two hits in 0.2 innings. Dylan Slayton recorded the final out for the Trojans.

Texas State now owns a 6-6 record in the Sun Belt tournament and has won at least one game in all four postseason events since joining the league in 2014. The last time the Bobcats recorded more than one triumph in a conference tournament was in 2014, when the maroon and gold posted a 2-2 mark.

-TxStateBobcats.com-