HOUSTON – Junior right-hander Garrett Herrmann struck out a career-high 10 in the Texas State baseball team's (11-6) 5-0 victory over Rice (7-11) Wednesday night at Reckling Park. It was the first win for the Bobcats at the Owls home park since May 5, 2009.
 
Herrmann went 5.2 innings as he allowed six hits and walked one to improve to 2-0 on the season. Garrett Gayle (0-2) suffered the loss after surrendering four runs on seven hits and two walks in 4.1 innings.
 
Both Travon Benton and Dalton Shuffield went 2-for-4 at the plate. Cole Coffey drove in a game-high two runs while Jaxon Williams and Shuffield scored twice.
 
To open the game, Williams singled back up the middle. Will Hollis followed two batters later with another single up the middle and Cole Coffey drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Skyler Valentine hit a deep fly to right field that was caught but deep enough to score a run and put TXST up 1-0.
 
Shuffield began the second inning with a single that was sent up the middle of the infield. Facing 2-2 count, Travon Benton ripped a double to right center that died in the outfield grass because of all the rain earlier in the day soaking the field that also plated a run to make it 2-0 advantage.
 
The Owls nearly scored in the bottom half of the inning when Justin Dunlap hit a hard line drive that hit off Ryan Newman's glove and rolled down the line. Newman was able to recover and gunned the ball home to Andrew Dunlap for the third out of the inning.
 
In the third, Rice loaded the bases with two outs on back-to-back singles and a hit by pitch. Herrmann followed by striking out Rodrigo Duluc on three pitches to escape the jam.
 
Williams led off the fifth with a walk and was immediately followed by a single through the left side by Jaylen Hubbard. The duo would pull off a double steal to both move into scoring position. It would pay off when Coffey ripped a double down the right field line that barely landed in fair territory to plate both runners.
 
Rice threatened in the sixth and seventh frames. In the sixth, Brent Hebert came on and needed two pitches to induce a ground out to end the inning. He worked out of a two-out bases loaded jam with a fly out to Hollis in the seventh.
 
Leading off the eighth, Shuffield singled to center field, stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Peyton Lewis line out to left field that saw the outfielder make a diving catch but also allowed Shuffield to tag and score for the final run of the game.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is the opening Sun Belt Conference series at South Alabama. Friday's and Saturday's games begin at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday's is slated for 1 p.m.
 
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