SAN MARCOS, Texas – A 9-2 win on Sunday at Bobcat Ballpark completed a weekend sweep for No. 17 Texas State (32-9, 15-3 Sun Belt) over Little Rock (16-19, 6-11 Sun Belt) and extend the Bobcats' winning streak to nine games. It was the sixth sweep of the season to tie the program record set in 2011.
Â
"I thought it was a really good week of offense going back to the UTSA game. The wind is blowing out in our ballpark and our guys taking full advantage of it," said head coach
Steven Trout. "The biggest key was holding Little Rock, which is a good hitting team, to eight runs on the weekend."
Â
Triston Dixon (7-0) came out of the bullpen and threw 3.2 scoreless frames with three strikeouts to earn the victory. Hoss Brewer (2-2) took the loss after giving up six runs on four hits and three walks in four innings.
Â
Starting on the rubber was
Cameron Bush, who went 3.1 innings and surrendered a run on three hits.
Tony Robie struck out two in an inning of work while
Matthew Nicholas recorded two outs and
Carson Keithley retired a batter.
Â
Both
Justin Thompson and
John Wuthrich finished 2-for-3 at the plate, scored twice and hit a home run and double. Thompson drove in four runs while Wuthrich plated one. Also scoring two times was
Dalton Shuffield, who extended his hitting streak to six games.
Â
Wuthrich led off the second by blasting the first pitch of the inning to right field for an opposite field homer for his 12th of the season and 26th in his career.
Â
The Trojans answered backed with a run in the next half. They tried to get a second run across as
Tyler Williams attempted to steal home. Bush was quicker as he stepped off the rubber and threw him out at the plate.
Â
A key moment came in the top of the fourth. LR loaded the bases with one gone and Trout made a call to the bullpen for Dixon. The right-hander fell behind 3-0 but came back to induce a grounder to Shuffield to start an inning-ending double play.
Â
Wuthrich leadoff the bottom of the frame with a double. Two batters later,
Wesley Faison hit a deep fly ball to center that allowed Wuthrich to tag up and advance to third. On the transfer, the centerfield dropped the ball which the TXST senior outfielder took advantage of by scoring the go-ahead run.
Â
An error, hit by pitch and walk loaded the bases for Thompson in the fifth. The senior third baseman smacked a double off the centerfield wall to plate two runs. Twice more the Bobcats scored in the frame on a
Jose Gonzalez groundout and a sacrifice fly from
Daylan Pena to increase the lead to 6-1.
Â
Faison stated the next inning with a blast to left center that went 466 feet for his seventh round tripper of the year.
Â
The final runs of the game for Texas State came in the seventh. Shuffield led off with a single to left field and Thompson followed by crushing a 2-2 offering that hit off the batter's eye in center for a 2-run home run.
Â
Next up for the Bobcats is a trip down I-35 to face rival UTSA on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.
Â
For all things Texas State baseball, be sure to follow the team on
Facebook,
Instagram and
Twitter.
Â
