SAN MARCOS, Texas – Battling cold and windy conditions Friday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark, Texas State (12-3) claimed a 6-2 victory in the series opener over Southern (3-11).
 
Zeke Wood (2-1) had another solid start as he struck out seven in six innings to pick up the win. Joseph Battaglia (0-3) gave up four runs on six hits over seven innings to take the loss.
 
Triston Dixon threw two scoreless innings and Cameron Bush shutout the Jaguars in the ninth out of the pen. Both relievers struck out one batter apiece.
 
At the plate, Wesley Faison went 2-for-2 with three RBI and hit a double. Dalton Shuffield was 2-for-4 and scored half of the Bobcats' runs. He also swiped two bases to give him 32 in his career.
 
The bottom of the first began with John Wuthrich beating out a dribbler hit back to the pitcher. Jose Gonzalez with follow by reaching when the centerfielder dropped a fly ball. After a ground out to move both runners into scoring position, Faison hit a fly to center that was again dropped by the centerfielder that saw both runners come around to score to give TXST an early 2-0 advantage.
 
Shuffield beat out a drag bunt for a single in the third. The senior shortstop stole second and would score when Faison hit a blast to right field for an RBI double to increase the lead to three runs.
 
A fielding error allowed SU to extend its offensive half of the fifth and score two runs to cut the Bobcats' lead to 3-2.
 
The lead was extended to two runs in the next half inning when Faison singled to right and bring home Shuffield.
 
In the eighth, Shuffield led off with a routine grounder to his counterpart that was misplayed and allowed Texas State's shortstop to reach base. He swiped second and Faison worked a walk. Both runners moved into scoring position when Justin Thompson laid down a sacrifice bunt.
 
Daylan Pena hit a slow ground out to bring in a run. A couple of pitches later Faison got the Jaguar pitcher to balk to increase the advantage to 6-2.
 
The series continues Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
 
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