SAN MARCOS, Texas – Four home runs were hit Thursday night by Texas State (20-9, 7-3 Sun Belt) with the last coming off the bat of Chase Mora in the 8-5 series opening victory over Georgia Southern (10-20, 3-7 Sun Belt) at Bobcat Ballpark. Mora's two-run homer was the 36th of his career and tied the program's record held by Bobcat legend and current major leaguer Paul Goldschmidt.
 
Also hitting long balls on the evening were Manny Salas and Jaquae Stewart. Salas hit two round trippers with both being two-run jacks.
 
Rashawn Galloway extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a triple. Also finishing with a base knock was Jackson Cotton, Ethan Farris and Dawson Park.
 
Picking up the win on the mound was Wade Cooper (4-0) after he recorded the final four outs of the game with three coming via a strikeout. Ethan Garrett (0-6) allowed three runs on three hits while striking out five in 3.1 innings to take the loss.
 
Kyle Froehlich tossed 4.0 innings with four strikeouts but gave up three runs on eight hits. Cade Smith threw 3.0 innings and Alex Yearwood retired two batters out of the bullpen.
 
Salas started the scoring with a homer that just got over the centerfield wall in the first to put TXST up 2-0.
 
The Eagles would tally a run in the second and fourth to tie the game. Stewart and Farris hit back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the fourth and each would advance into scoring position on a groundout. A wild pitch allowed Stewart to score to put Texas State back up 3-2.
 
In the fifth, GS scored a run on a bases loaded groundout to tie the game again. A triple from Galloway was followed two pitches later with Salas' second homer of the game to give the Bobcats a two-run advantage again.
 
The score stayed the same until the seventh when the Eagles scored a run on a sacrifice fly. They would plate another run in the eighth and nearly had more in the frame if it wasn't for Stewart making a diving catch for the third out.
 
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Stewart cranked a 2-2 offering to centerfield that sailed 453 feet for his sixth round tripper of the season. Mora followed later in the frame by sending a 2-2 pitch to him over the left field wall and onto the softball field for his record tying home run and extended the Bobcats' lead to 8-5.
 
Friday will see the series conclude with a doubleheader. The first game will see a 2 p.m. first pitch with the finale to start an hour after the conclusion of the first contest.
 
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