ATLANTA – The Sun Belt Championship regular season trophy is returning to San Marcos as No. 13 Texas State (42-11, 24-4 Sun Belt) defeated Georgia State (30-24, 15-13 Sun Belt) by an 8-7 score Thursday night at the GSU Baseball Complex to claim the outright title. It is the second time in the last three full seasons that the Bobcats have won the regular season trophy.
"I am happy for these guys. They have been through a lot and worked extremely hard," said head coach
Steven Trout. "Really proud of these guys to win the championship two out of the last three years. Proud of the seniors who have been through a lot with the COVID year to a bad year last year. Now they are going home champions."
With the 42 victories, TXST also set a new program record for wins in a season. The previous high of 41 was set in 2009 and matched in 2011.
Matthew Nicholas (2-1) threw 1.1 innings out of the bullpen to get the win.
Tristan Stivors increased his national leading save total to 16 as he went two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Taking the loss was Seth Clark (5-1) as he allowed a run in on two hits in an inning.
Recording his fourth game this season with double-digit strikeouts was
Zeke Wood. The right-hander struck out 10 in 5.2 innings while surrendering five runs on seven hits.
Finishing with two base hits apiece was
Cameron Gibbons,
Peyton Lewis,
Ben McClain,
Daylan Pena and
Dalton Shuffield. Pena was the lone Bobcat to score multiple runs with two on the evening.
The Panthers got on the board their first time at the plate on a two-run homer by Griffin Cheney.
Daylan Pena was walked and
John Wuthrich was hit by a pitch to start off the next half inning.
Peyton Lewis laced a single through the right side that led to a run as the outfielder misplayed it. A single past the diving shortstop off the bat of
Cameron Gibbons. GSU turned a double play with the bases loaded but a run scored to put TXST ahead 3-2.
The scoring continued in the third as
Justin Thompson crushed the first pitch of the inning over the left centerfield wall for his ninth homer of the season. An RBI opposite double off the bat of Lewis added the second run of the frame to make it a 5-2 ball game.
It would be until the sixth when either team scored again. Four were plated by the Panthers to put them back ahead. They would add another run in the seventh to increase their advantage to two runs.
Gibbons led off the eighth with a double down the left field line. After
Ben McClain reached on a booted ball by the second baseman to put runners on the corners, Shuffield hit a chopper to third. The fielder went home but the catcher dropped the ball on the tag to allow Gibbons to score.
Following a pitching change,
Jose Gonzalez hit an RBI single to left to tie the game. He advanced to second on the throw that saw Shuffield get tagged out at third on a close play. Two batters later,
Wesley Faison hit a shot just past the first baseman's glove and Gonzalez slide in ahead of the tag to put TXST back ahead 8-7.
Stivors came on and struck out two batters out in the eighth. The senior finished the game by getting the last two batters to strikeout.
The series in Atlanta continues Friday with first pitch set for 5 p.m. CT
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