SAN MARCOS, Texas – Junior Coy DeFury hit a walk-off single in the ninth to give Texas State a 5-4 win over James Madison Friday night at Bobcat Ballpark. The victory evened the series and kept the Bobcats' hopes alive for a top six seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

With the win, TXST improved to 26-28 overall and 14-15 in conference play while the Dukes fell to 16-38 on the season and 9-20 in the Sun Belt.

Carson Laws (4-1) picked up the win after throwing two scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Griffin Madden (1-2) allowed the winning run while giving up a hit in 2.1 innings.

Starting on the rubber was Jesus Tovar, who recorded two strikeouts in five innings but gave up four runs on eight hits. Colby Diaz threw two hitless and shutout frames with two punch outs.

Texas State only had five hits on the night but were walked 10 times. The lone extra-base hit came was a double off the bat of Ryne Farber, who drove in two runs, walked twice and scored once. Also finishing with an RBI were Dawson Park, Alan Shibley and DeFury.

In the second, three consecutive free passes were issued to Ian Collier, Travis Bragg and Samson Pugh to load the bases with one out. Shibley reached on a fielder's choice after a slower grounder to the second baseman plated a run.

Farber would then send a 0-1 pitch down the right field line for a two RBI double. However, the inning ended with the sophomore being thrown out at third trying to stretch his hit into a triple.

JMU responded with two runs in the next half inning as both were scored with two outs.

In the bottom of the third, Mora was walked and stole second. DeFury followed by being walked on four pitches. After Rashawn Galloway reached via a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners, Park hit a comeback to the pitcher. The softly hit ball went into Max Kuhle's glove but bounced out. The lefty couldn't find the ball to allow all runners to reach safely and saw Mora score to increase the lead to 4-2.

The Dukes answered with a run apiece in both the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game.

Kyle Langley led off the eighth with a triple to right center. Laws' next pitch saw him induce Reece Moody to hit a ball down the right field line into foul territory. DeFury raced back from the drawn in infield to catch the ball. He immediately threw home and Austin Munguia tagged out Langley trying to tag and score.

JMU threatened in the ninth when the first three batters reached to load the bases. Laws responded by inducing a pop-up to Farber and followed with a strikeout. The junior right-hander escaped the bases loaded jam unscathed with a fly out to Shibley to end the inning.

Farber was issued a free pass with one out in the bottom of the ninth. He would then steal second. In response, the Dukes intentionally walked Mora. A 3-1 offering to DeFury was laced to right center for the walk-off RBI single.

The series and regular season finale will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, Texas State will recognize this year's seniors.

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