Texas State baseball kicked off its new season in dominant fashion, defeating the Weatherford College Coyotes 21-6 in a 14-inning scrimmage on Friday at Bobcat Stadium. 
For its first of two scrimmages this weekend, the Bobcats welcomed Weatherford College, a team coming off a successful 2022 season where they achieved a 38-21 record and reached the final four of the NJCAA Region V Baseball Tournament.
The Bobcats never trailed in the game, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off a scoring run by redshirt senior outfielder Ben McClain. 
After a scoreless second inning, the Bobcat offense exploded, scoring seven runs in the third inning with the help of eight walks from Weatherford pitcher Matthew Rheaume.
Freshman outfielder Xavier Perez hit a solo homerun giving Texas State a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Four at-bats later with two men on base, sophomore infielder Daylan Pena hit a home run of his own increasing the lead to 5-0. 
Despite having two outs for the majority of the inning, the Weatherford defense could not come up with a final out as Texas State was able to score three more runs and load the bases before the umpire mercifully ended the inning with the score at 8-0. 
Six of the eight walks in the third inning led to points for Texas State.
Texas State’s offense continued to roll in the fourth inning as the Bobcats once again loaded the bases off two walks and a single down from McClain. 
This time around, the inning wasn’t abruptly ended, allowing Texas State to capitalize off its loaded bases as Pena added to his already impressive night by hitting a grand slam, making the score 12-0. The Bobcats brought in another runner before the inning came to a close with the score at 13-0. 
Not only did the Bobcats’ offense shine in the game, but the pitching did as well. Junior pitcher Levi Wells and senior pitcher Zeke Wood dominated the first four innings on the mound. 
Wells had four strikeouts, gave up one hit and no walks through the first two innings. Wood had four strikeouts, one hit and no walks through the third and fourth innings. 
Even though they were facing a 13-run deficit, the Coyotes continued to fight, scoring a total of six runs over the next two innings, mainly due to the struggles of Texas State redshirt sophomore pitcher Carson Keithley. 
Keithley had no strikeouts, one walk and gave up hits, one being a homerun to Weatherford centerfielder Zosh Zapata with two men on base in the fifth inning, making the score 13-3. 
Weatherford third baseman Kevin Duran hit the Coyotes’ second home run of the game in the sixth inning with two men on base, this time off Texas State redshirt junior pitcher Cameron Bush, bringing the score to 13-6 after six innings. 
Those were the last points of the night for the Coyotes as Texas State pitched a shutout over the final eight innings while also scoring eight more runs. The result was a lopsided final score of 21-6. 
With the exception of some miscues in the fifth and sixth innings, the Bobcats showcased a dominant performance from start to finish. 
“I thought it was a pretty good day,” head coach Steven Trout said in a postgame interview. “On offense, we took some really big swings on some good breaking balls. I thought in the second game we kind of manufactured some runs, we moved the runners, but overall, a really good day because one we won and number two, we played really good defense.”