Texas State baseball is starting off its season 7-1 for the first time since 2002 after its series sweep over Ohio State University (3-4). The Bobcats took all three games in Bobcat Ballpark from the Buckeyes this past weekend with a combined score of 23-10.
With the best start in 20 years for the Bobcats, they’ve also secured their first series sweep since March 8, 2020— nearly two years ago when the Bobcats swept Bethune-Cookman in San Marcos.
In the series opener between the Bobcats and the Buckeyes on Friday, senior pitcher Zeke Wood threw seven scoreless innings for the Bobcats, only allowing one hit and tallying 10 strikeouts — bringing his season total to 22 in just two starts. Wood is happy with the way he’s performing so far but credits his team for their improvement as a whole rather than himself.
“It feels good to have everything working for you,” Wood said. “We’ve made a lot of adjustments, the team, coaching staff, players, everybody has improved. It’s a completely different atmosphere in the dugout … we’ve got a great team.”
The Bobcats and Buckeyes started game one in a pitchers’ duel. Neither team could get anything across until the bottom of the fifth with two outs when Buckeye sophomore pitcher Isaiah Coupet surrendered five runs to the Bobcats.
Four more runs would come for the Bobcats in the seventh and eighth innings, cruising to a 9-1 victory in game one of three of the series. Six Bobcats were able to bat in runs, including senior designated hitter Wesley Faison and junior first basemen Jose Gonzalez grabbing a pair.
Heading into Saturday for game two, the Bobcats were looking to clinch their second series win of 2022. The Bobcats went down 2-1 to start game two before putting up a four-spot in the bottom of the second to lift the Bobcats past the Buckeyes, 8-5, to take the series.
Junior pitcher Triston Dixon picked up the win in the series-deciding match coming in to relieve sophomore Levi Wells with two down in the top of the third inning. Dixon threw 3.2 innings, surrendering one run on three hits while striking out five.
Junior outfielder Ben McClain and Gonzalez both brought around two runs each as the leaders in Saturday’s matchup, accounting for half of the Bobcat’s runs.
On Sunday, the Bobcats had their sights on their first series sweep since March 8, 2020, against Bethune-Cookman in San Marcos, nearly two years ago.
Head coach Steven Trout knew that the Buckeyes wouldn’t go down without a fight. His team was going to have to push through adversity and stick to their basics to be able to get out of Sunday with a win.
“I told them before the game, ‘we’re gonna get punched in the mouth today,’” Trout said. “It’s just baseball, it’s gonna happen. How we respond to it is what makes or breaks us … I was proud of the guys that they never stopped. And then we scored in the last three innings on offense, which is huge.”
Down 2-3 in the bottom of the sixth, sophomore utility August Ramirez advanced to third on wild pitches, and senior catcher Peyton Lewis was walked. This forced the Buckeyes to take out their junior relief pitcher Wyatt Loncar after 1.1 innings and put in freshman pitcher Jake Johnson.
The first batter Johnson faced was senior second basemen, Cameron Gibbons. On the first pitch Gibbons saw, he lined it down the middle into center field for an RBI single to tie the game, scoring Ramirez and moving Lewis into scoring position. The Bobcats grabbed one more run in the sixth inning to take the lead going into the seventh inning.
In the seventh, the Bobcats extended their lead to 5-3. The Buckeyes recovered one run in the top of the eighth, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Bobcats matched their run in the bottom frame to complete the series sweep with a 6-4 victory over Ohio State.
Trout is happy with how his team attacked the day, emphasizing the focus was to just win the day. The sweep was a bonus for him and the Bobcats.
“The biggest key is winning on Sundays,” Trout said. “We’re just trying to come out and play good baseball and a win today results in a sweep, but we were trying to go win the game today.”
Next up, the Bobcats look to improve to 8-1 on the season as they face UTRGV at 6 p.m. on March 1 at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos.
DeShaun Hartley and Drew King from the San Marcos Daily Record contributed interview audio for this recap.