TROY, Ala. — The temperature in southwest Alabama may have been flirting with 90 degrees Saturday afternoon, but Meagan King was hotter in the circle as the Texas State senior tossed her second straight complete game shutout in conference action when the Bobcats beat Troy 3-0. 

Just six days after matching her career high with 11 strikeouts to no walks and scattering only three hits in seven innings against Georgia Southern, King (9-2) did much of the same Saturday afternoon as she threw a season-high 112 pitches throughout seven innings en route to striking out four and allowing only three hits. She also issued her first walk — with two outs in the bottom of the seventh — that snapped a streak of 24.2 consecutive innings without allowing a walk. 

For the 18th time this season, Texas State (33-9, 14-5) scored in the first inning after Hannah Earls led off the game by singling a 2-2 pitch to second base, then stealing second during Piper Randolph's plate appearance. 

Sara Vanderford continued her strong case for Sun Belt Player of the Year as the second baseman was credited with her team-high 20th two-out RBI of the season when she sent a 2-1 pitch to centerfield to plate Earls later in the first. 

For the next five innings, a pitchers' duel broke out as neither team was able to plate a run until Samara Lagway came through in a clutch moment when she hit a 2-2 pitch back up the middle for a two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the sixth. On the play, Vanderford, who hit a one-out single earlier in the inning, came around to score from second, then Molly Damiani, who pinch ran for Hailey MacKay after she drew her 87th career walk, rounded third and slide underneath a tag at the plate to make it 3-0 Bobcats. 

Now with a three-run lead, King retired the Trojans (32-12, 15-5) in order in the bottom of the sixth inning and the first two of the seventh inning before Logan Calhoun capped an 11-pitch plate appearance with a two-out walk. King responded by earning her fourth strikeout when she got Troy leadoff batter Jade Sinness, who is hitting .353, looking on three straight pitches. 

Texas State will look for its first conference series sweep since last weekend when the Bobcats took all three games from Georgia Southern. A win Sunday would give TXST its first ever road conference sweep of Troy and its first conference sweep of the Trojans since the 2017 season.