SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team topped Georgia State 10-9 in walkoff style in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday evening at Bobcat Ballpark.
 
The Bobcats (24-24, 10-13 SBC) snapped a seven-game conference losing streak, while the Panthers dropped to 18-28 overall and 7-16 in league action.
 
TXST entered the ninth inning trailing 9-8, and the game looked to be all done and dusted after GSU closer Rhett Harper sat down the first two batters he faced. Junior Travon Benton kept the Bobcats alive with a four-pitch walk, however, sending classmate Derek Scheible to the plate. He ripped a 2-2 pitch to right center for a double that moved sophomore Jacob Almendarez, pinch-running for Benton, over to third.
 
That brought Jonathan Ortega to the dish. The sophomore calmly drove a 1-0 pitch back up the middle to bring home Almendarez and Scheible, tying the weekend series one game each in the process.
 
Texas State initially pushed ahead with a pair of second-inning runs, but the visitors knotted the score at 2-2 with solo markers in the fourth and fifth frames. TXST erupted for four runs in the home half of the fifth, but Georgia State countered with four in the sixth and three in the seventh to pull ahead 9-7.
 
The maroon and gold cut the deficit in half on an RBI single from sophomore Jaylen Hubbard in the bottom of the eighth, and that set the stage for the game-winning rally in the last half-inning.  
 
The victory was the 13th come-from-behind triumph for Texas State this season. The win was also the fifth this year and second this week (UTSA) when TXST was trailing heading into the ninth.
 
Ortega, Scheible and junior Dylan Paul all finished with three hits. Ortega posted three RBIs and two runs scored, while reaching the three-hit plateau for the first time since April 4 against Prairie View A&M. Scheible scored the game-winning run and tallied three hits for the first time since March 31 against Arkansas State. Paul had two RBIs and one run scored, while extending his career-best hitting streak to nine games.
 
Hubbard drove in one run, and both he and Benton scored twice. Hubbard extended his own personal-best hitting streak to eight games. Junior Luke Sherley saw his career high nine-game hitting streak come to an end after finishing 0-for-1, but he was still productive with a sacrifice RBI and three walks.
 
True freshman Nicholas Fraze collected a no-decision on the mound after allowing five runs on six hits in 5.2 innings. Sophomore Brayden Theriot (3-1) earned the win after conceding three runs on three hits across the final 3.0 frames.
 
Georgia State burned through seven pitchers overall, beginning with Hunter Gaddis. The starter lasted 2.0 innings and was pulled after allowing two runs on two hits. Devin Vainer was next up and conceded three runs on four hits in 2.1 frames. Logan Barnette was in line for the win after giving up two runs on three hits in 2.2 innings, but Harper (1-1) blew the save in the ninth and took the loss after allowing two runs on two hits in 0.2 frames.
 
Nick Gatewood was the lone Panther with multiple hits, as he finished 2-for-4. Luke Leonard drove in three runs, and Will Kilgore scored twice.
 
The two teams will compete for the series victory at noon May 7 at Bobcat Ballpark.

TEXAS STATE COACH TY HARRINGTON
On the two-out hitting in the ninth inning…
"All three of the at-bats (from Travon Benton, Derek Scheible and Jonathan Ortega) were huge for us, there's no question about it. That was Benton's fourth time getting on base today. Derek sat in there and battled. He was able to hit the breaker the other way to get two guys into scoring position. Now we're one swing away at that point and time with JO coming up. He had some pretty good looks at the baseball all long. This was one of his better days in a couple weeks. You never know what's going to happen in that situation, and today he came through for us and got the big hit when we had to have it."
 
On the sixth walkoff win of the season…
"This is a pretty resilient bunch. There have been other times where we got close but could not complete a comeback, like against Arkansas State. They've had that resilient trademark all year long. We have to put ourselves in a little better situation where we can start saving games instead of having to win at the end. But they've been able to do that. It's a character trait that they have. Hopefully they'll continue it going forward.
 
On Georgia State…
"You can't let the stats fool you. If you go in and look at what they were doing coming into the series offensively, we haven't slowed them down. They've had great at-bats. They don't give up at-bats. They don't have one thing glaring that we can take advantage of. Tomorrow is the third game, and a lot of different things can happen. Certainly we need to get back on it again."

-TxStateBobcats.com-