Three pitchers for the Bobcats allowed No. 17 Texas State baseball (35-11, 17-4 Sun Belt) to outlast the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals (16-25, 6-12 Southland) in a pitching duel, 3-1, Tuesday, at Bobcat Ballpark.
Sophomore starter Tony Robie, junior reliever Austin Smith and senior closer Tristan Stivors combined for one run on six hits while striking out 10 batters. Smith picked up the win, giving up the only run of the game for the Cardinals in 2.2 innings and allowing three hits while striking out three. 
Stivors snagged his tenth save of the season, tying the program record of 19 saves as a Bobcat, striking out four batters and allowing one hit. Stivors is honored to be able to tie the record, but he’s focused on completing the rest of the season and riding out the confidence that he and his team have.
“I’m for sure that if you were to ask any guy on this team right now,” Stivors said. “They’d tell you we’d sweep the last few weekend series that we have.”
The Bobcats also hit two home runs that ended up making the difference in the game. Junior outfielder Ben McClain homered in the third to open up the scoring in the game and then, to finish things off, junior outfielder Jose Gonzalez blasted one over the left-field wall during the eighth inning to add insurance runs to the Bobcat lead.
Head coach Steven Trout knows how important it is to get insurance runs. Even though it took a while, his players’ patience paid off.
“I don’t know if there was tension or if everybody was just trying to wait for that big hit,” Trout said. “All of a sudden you get [about] two in the night, that’s a big deal compared to one. Pretty cool when you can hit both homers oppo.”
The Bobcats will hit the road for a Sun Belt weekend series for the first time in nearly three weeks as they travel to Monroe to face the Warhawks from the University of Louisiana-Monroe (15-27-1, 6-14-1 Sun Belt). Game one is slated for Friday in Monroe with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Warhawk Field.