ARLINGTON, Texas – Junior Zeke Wood had a dominating performance on the mound while the bats for No. 19 Texas State (26-9, 10-3 Sun Belt) came alive late in the game to claim a 6-1 series opening victory over UT Arlington (11-23, 4-9 Sun Belt) Thursday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.
 
Wood (3-1) allowed one hit and run over 7.2 innings with six strikeouts to earn the win. He held the Mavericks to just two baserunners after the first. Tanner King (2-4) took the loss after giving up five runs on seven hits and striking out nine in eight innings.
 
Triston Dixon recorded the final four outs with three being the result of a strikeout.
 
At the plate, John Wuthrich went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI. Daylan Pena also had two hits while Peyton Lewis drove in two runs on his second triple of the season.
 
The first three batters of the game for the Mavericks reached base and resulted in a run being scored.
 
In the next half inning, Wuthrich singled through the left side and would advance to third on a single to center off the bat of Pena. A ground out brought Wuthrich home to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Back-to-back singles from Pena and Wesley Faison put runners on the corners. The first pitch to Lewis was hit high and deep to right center. The outfielders lost the ball in the air which landed behind them and allow Lewis to reach third for a two-RBI triple. Cameron Gibbons laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring the junior catcher home to put the Bobcats ahead 4-1 after the top of the seventh.
 
The eight began with Dalton Shuffield reaching via a throwing error by his counterpart that went into the dugout to put him on second. Jose Gonzalez singled to right to put runners on the corners and two batters later, Wuthrich hit a deep fly out to right center for a sacrifice fly and increase the lead to four runs.
 
With two gone in the ninth, Gibbons reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. Ben McClain roped a single to right that was misplayed by the outfielder that allowed the junior outfielder to reach third and Gibbons to score to increase the lead to 6-1.
 
Game two of the series will take place at 6:30 p.m.
 
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