After giving up two runs in the first two innings against the third-seeded UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (43-13), Texas State baseball (46-12) came from behind to win its opening game in the NCAA Regionals for the first time in 22 years, 7-3, Friday at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond in Palo Alto, California.
The Bobcats are familiar with coming from behind. Similar to their comeback win against ULM in the Sun Belt Tournament, Head Coach Steven Trout knew it wasn’t jitters that had his team down early. The Bobcats would have to be patient and try to play their game.
“Even though it’s our first regional in 11 years, I felt like our guys were confident and loose,” Trout said. “Our guys did a good job of [just] slowing the game down and taking it pitch-by-pitch and found a way to hunt some mistakes and finally got him (Cory Lewis). When they got him, they made him pay for it.”
In the first inning, the Gauchos took no time to put a run across the plate. Leading off for UCSB, sophomore designated hitter Blake Klassen knocked a single on the first pitch he saw from starting right-handed sophomore pitcher Zeke Wood (7-1, 3.62 ERA). After being advanced to second, with two outs, Klassen was brought around for the first run of the game on a double by sophomore centerfielder Nick Vogt.
After the Bobcats couldn’t get anything working in the bottom of the first, Gaucho junior right-fielder Broc Mortensen blasted a solo home run on the second pitch he saw from Zeke Wood giving his squad a 0-2 lead over the Bobcats.
After the home run hit off him, Wood settled in and let his offense get to work. In the bottom of the fourth, senior third baseman Justin Thompson and senior right-fielder John Wuthrich reached base. With two runners on, freshman first baseman Daylan Peña hit a one-out double to score the first run of the game for the Bobcats and it didn’t take long to clear the bases as junior catcher Peyton Lewis blasted a three-run home run on the next at-bat to take a 4-2 lead over the Gauchos. 
The four-spot in the bottom of the fourth for the Bobcats would ultimately be the difference in the game and Lewis knew it.
“It was huge,” Lewis said. “It really turned the game around for us. There was so much momentum on our side after that.”
The Bobcats would go on to plate three more runs as the Gauchos managed one last home run off Wood before being replaced by junior right-handed pitcher Triston Dixon. Dixon lasted a third of an inning, managing an out before junior left-handed pitcher Austin Smith came in to close out the final 2.2 innings of the game for the Bobcats without allowing a hit and striking out four batters.
With the win over the No. 3 seed Gauchos in the first round of the Stanford Regional, the Bobcats will face the Regional host and the No. 2 national seed, Stanford Cardinals (42-14), Saturday at 9 p.m. CT (7 p.m. PT) at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. The winner between the Bobcats and the Cardinal will solidify a spot in the Regional championship for a chance at an NCAA Super Regional birth. 
Continue to follow along on Twitter during the Stanford Regional as Sports Reporter Kyle Owen will be reporting live from Palo Alto, California.