BOONE, N.C. – The Texas State baseball team (18-9, 6-2 Sun Belt) held off a late rally by Appalachian State (10-15, 3-5 Sun Belt) to win 5-4 Saturday afternoon at Smith Stadium. The victory also clinched the Bobcats' second straight Sun Belt Conference series.
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Hunter McMahon improved to 4-2 on the season after working 5.2 innings. The sophomore right-hander recorded four strikeouts while giving up two runs and eight hits. Earning his second save of the season was
Zachary Leigh after throwing 2.1 shutouts innings with a strikeout. Suffering the loss was Tyler Tuthill (4-3) in which he went five innings with five strikeouts but gave up three runs on four walks and three hits.
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Both
Jaxon Williams and
John Wuthrich led TXST with two hits and accounted for the team's five RBIs.
Will Hollis drew a walk his first time up to bat to extend his reached base streak to 21 games.
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In the second, Hollis led off the inning with walk.
Skyler Valentine followed with a double down the left field line to put two runners in scoring position. On a 2-2 pitch, Wuthrich laced another double that landed fair down the left field line to plate two runs.
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The Bobcats were able to load the bases on free passes to
Felipe Rodriguez and
Dalton Shuffield. Williams battled and was also walked to bring home a run and put TXST ahead 3-0.
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In the sixth, the Mountaineers cut into the lead with RBI singles from Joel McDaniel and Dalton Williams.
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Texas State retook a three-run advantage in the next half inning as Williams singled to left field to plate two runs.
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APP's Tyler Leek tripled down the right field line to bring home two runs to cut the Bobcats advantage to 5-4.
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Leigh was able to get out of a jam in the eighth by inducing a double play to end the frame. In the ninth and with a runner on first, Williams made a sliding catch in foul territory for the final out of the game.
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TXST concludes its series in Boone on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 10 a.m. CDT.
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