SAN MARCOS, Texas – Senior first baseman
Ryan Newman sent a three-run blast over the right field fence to give the Texas State baseball team (27-13, 12-6 Sun Belt) a 7-6 walk-off victory in 10 innings Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark to complete the sweep of Arkansas State (22-19, 8-10 Sun Belt).
For Newman, it was his second career extra-inning walk-off home run. His first came on Mar. 17, 2017 against 20th-ranked Coastal Carolina in the 14th inning.
The Bobcats improve to 4-1 in extra-inning contests this season with three of them being walk-off wins in San Marcos.
Picking up the win was Brent Heber (3-1) after he recorded the final two outs of the top of the 10th. Kollin Stone (1-2) took the loss in which he threw an inning with a strikeout and gave up three runs.
Connor Reich had a strong performance in his seven innings of work. The senior right-hander struck out 10 while walking one and giving up four runs on seven hits. It was his third career double-digit strikeout performance and first since he struck out a career-high 12 at Appalachian State on Mar. 24, 2017.
Both
Kyle Bradford and
Zachary Leigh threw an inning of relief as two of Bradford's outs were by strikeout.
Both
Chase Evans and Newman finished with a team-high three hits. Along with Newman's three-run homer,
Travon Benton drove in two runs and
Felipe Rodriguez plated one.
TXST got on the board first its first time at the plate.
Dalton Shuffield started things off with a bunt single.
Jaxon Williams followed with a single through the left side and
Will Hollis was walked to load the bases. Two batters later, Benton hit a single to right field that plated two runs.
The lead was short lived as Tyler Duncan hit a two-run home run to right field to tie the game. A leadoff homer by Andrew Leggo in the fourth put ASU in front 3-2 after the top of the fourth.
In the next half inning, Evans hit a grounder into the hole that was fielded by the shortstop with not chance of getting the junior outfielder at first. Newman then laced a 1-0 pitch to right field for a single and he was able to advance to second as the outfielder misplayed the ball. A sacrifice fly by Rodriguez to left center easily allowed Evans to score to tie the contest.
Back-to-back walks to
Jaylen Hubbard and Shuffield started off the bottom half of the seventh. Following a pitching change, Williams was hit by the very first pitch to load the bases. Hollis hit a hard shot that was fielded by the second baseman to begin a double play, but it allowed Hubbard to go the final 90 feet to put the Bobcats back in front 4-3.
The Red Wolves responded again in the following half inning. Justin Felix singled back up the middle to bring home a run to tie the game.
ASU appeared to take the lead for good in the top of the 10th when Duncan hit a two-RBI single to left center. The visitors nearly tacked on more runs but Valentine made a leaping catch into the center field wall to prevent an extra-base hit.
Texas State got some early help without swinging a bat as both Valentine and Benton were plunked to start off the bottom half of the 10th. Evans then laid down a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher to move both runners into scoring position. On the first pitch he saw, Newman hit his no-doubter walk-off homer to extend the Bobcats winning streak to six games.
Next up for TXST is a meeting with Texas on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark.
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