SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team defeated Louisiana 8-6 in a Sun Belt Conference contest Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark.
With the triumph in the final home game of the season, the Bobcats (25-25-1, 13-14 SBC) earned their second series victory ever against the Ragin' Cajuns (29-23, 15-12 SBC) and the first since 2004. TXST also locked up a berth in the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championship, which will be contested May 22-27 in Lafayette, La. The maroon and gold sits in seventh place overall in the league standings and are 1.5 games out of a top-6 position.
Texas State honored its six seniors prior to first pitch, and the upperclassmen went out and put on a show for the home crowd. Senior
Luke Sherley led the way with a 3-for-6 effort that included three runs scored and his career-high fifth home run of the year. He also took the mound for the first time since high school in the top of the ninth and earned the save. He struck out the only two batters he faced after entering with the bases loaded.
Louisiana initially secured a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Bobcats cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the frame on an RBI walk drawn by junior
Ryan Newman.
UL added a fifth run in the second, but the home side answered with three tallies in the home half of the inning. Senior
Dylan Paul sent his third homer of the year over the left-field wall to lead off the frame, and Sherley's two-run round tripper cut Louisiana's lead down to 5-4.
After a quiet third, Texas State took the lead for the first time with two runs in the fourth. Senior
Jared Huber singled home Sherley, and junior
Jacob Almendarez was hit by a pitch with the bases full of Bobcats for the go-ahead run.
An infield single from senior
Derek Scheible in the fifth allowed Sherley to score his third run of the day, and TXST added an insurance marker in the eighth on an RBI triple from true freshman
Dalton Shuffield. His first-career three-bagger brought around Huber.
The visitors threatened in the ninth by scoring once and loading the bases with one out, but Sherley would not be denied on the mound.
The loss for Louisiana snapped a five-game series winning streak. The Ragin' Cajuns entered the weekend having won 16 of their last 21 outings. This was also the first series victory for Texas State since April 13-14.
Sherley, Almendarez and junior
Jaylen Hubbard all had three hits to help the Bobcats outhit Louisiana 17-8. The season high in hits was aided by two each from Shuffield, Huber and Paul.
Junior
Wes Engle started on the mound but exited after failing to record an out. He did not concede a hit, but all three batters he faced reached base and scored. That brought
Zachary Leigh out of the bullpen. The sophomore hurler had one of the best outings of his young career, as he conceded just two runs on five hits in 7.0 innings of work. He also struck out five and walked two to improve to 2-3 on the year. He did not allow a hit or a run across the final 5.1 frames. Juniors
Brayden Theriot and
Seth Jordan also saw time on the hill, but it was Sherley who slammed the door shut on Louisiana.
No member of the visiting team had more than one hit. Hayden Cantrelle scored twice.
Ragin' Cajun starting pitcher Austin Perrin was yanked after giving up four runs on six hits in just 1.2 innings. He did not strike out anybody and yielded a pair of walks. Jack Burk (3-6) suffered the loss after conceding three runs on six hits across the next 2.2 frames. Brock Batty tossed 3.1 innings and gave up one run on five hits.
Texas State will now hit the road for the final four games of the regular season. First up will be the series finale with Texas at 6:30 p.m. May 15 in Austin.
-- TXSTATEBOBCATS.COM --
