LAFAYETTE, La. – A gem was thrown on the mound by Jesus Tovar and Samson Pugh had two big hits in Texas State's 2-0 victory over Louisiana on Saturday from Russo Park to even the series.

With the win, the Bobcats improve to 14-16 on the season and 5-6 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Ragin' Cajuns are now 16-16 overall and 7-4 in league play.

"An unreal job by Jesus to just pound the strike zone and be in command all day. He just kept making pitches and staying ahead a majority of the day," said head coach Steven Trout. "I thought our defense played really well and Samson Pugh had a big day knocking in both runs. A really good win and now have a chance for a series win tomorrow."

Tovar (1-2) went the distance with two strikeouts and surrendered four hits, all of them singles. Andrew Herrmann (2-3) took the loss after giving up two runs on six hits and four walks in 8.1 innings.

For Tovar, he has not allowed a run in his last 18.1 innings on the mound. The El Paso native is the first Bobcat to throw a complete game shutout since Drayton Brown did so last season at Arkansas State in a seven-inning 10-0 run-rule contest. The lefty is the first to toss nine scoreless innings since Zachary Leigh did so on Apr. 1, 2021 against UT Arlington at Bobcat Ballpark.

It is the first nine-inning complete game shutout in a conference game since Apr. 27, 2012. That day Travis Ballew struck out 12 in a 3-0 win.

At the plate, Pugh went 2-for-4 with a double and drove in both runs. Scoring each time on one of the sophomore's base knocks was Alan Shibley. Recording a double was Ryne Farber while Chase Mora, Austin Munguia, Dawson Park and Shibley all finished had hit a single.

Texas State threatened in the fourth that began with Farber hitting a double down the third baseline. He moved to within 90 feet of home on a Park sacrifice bunt but would be left stranded after a popup and ground out.

In the seventh, Shibley opened the frame by drawing a walk and Justin Vossos laid down a sac bunt to move him into scoring position. Munguia hit a deep fly ball to right field that allowed Shibley to tag and advance to third. The first pitch to Pugh was laced through the left side to the first run of the day.

Louisiana threatened in the bottom of the inning as Lee Amedee reached on an infield single. Jose Torres followed with a single to right field but Shibley showed off his arm as he threw a one-hopping strike to Mora at third to tag Amedee out to end the frame.

Shibley led off the ninth with a single that saw the ball hit off the first base bag. Another sac bunt from Vossos advanced the right fielder to second. Two batters later, Pugh smacked a 2-2 offering to left field that one-hopped off the base of the wall for a double and brought in an insurance run.

Tovar finished off his complete game by inducing two fly outs and then a ground out to Farber for the final out.

Game three of the series is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.

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