Texas State baseball’s historic season has come to an end after a 4-3 loss to the Stanford Cardinal in the NCAA Regional Finals at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond in Palo Alto, California.
The Bobcat’s record-breaking season came down to one swing of the bat.
“What an unreal game,” head coach Steven Trout said. “Last game of a Regional, pushed it to the brim. [Obviously] had it there, going up three to one. You gotta tip your hat … [Stanford] found a way to get it done.” 
The usual closing pitcher for the Bobcats, senior right-hander Tristan Stivors, got the start in the Regional championship game against the Cardinal. Coach Trout knew his team needed to start off strong to have a chance at a Super Regional birth.
“For us, it was mainly, ‘let’s get off to a good start,’ whatever that looked like,” Trout said. “I was hoping for two or three (out of Stivors), four would be great, seven was a dream come true.”
Stivors threw 101 pitches over seven innings of play, allowing a run in the second inning on eight hits while striking out the Cardinal nine times.
The Bobcats struck first on an RBI single from senior second baseman Cameron Gibbons with two outs in the top of the second. Gibbons brought around senior right-fielder John Wuthrich to take a 1-0 lead for the ‘Cats.
In the bottom half of the second inning, junior catcher Kody Huff plated the only run against Stivors during the Regional, a solo home run to tie the game. 
The two squads would remain deadlocked at a run apiece for the next six innings of play.
Starting the eighth inning was the usual Friday night starter for the Bobcats, junior right-handed pitcher Zeke Wood. Wood cruised through the bottom of the eighth, allowing a single and striking out two Cardinal batters, including Huff, sending the game into the ninth tied at one.
In the top of the ninth inning, senior designated hitter Wesley Faison knocked in the maroon and gold’s go-ahead runs against freshman Cardinal two-way player Braden Montgomery. The Bobcats were three outs away from hosting a Super Regional for the first time ever.
In the bottom half of the ninth, the first batter who came to the plate in the inning, sophomore third baseman Drew Bowser, blasted a solo shot to bring the Cardinal deficit to only one. The next pitch thrown by Wood would be taken yard once more, tying the game for the second time in the night, this time at three.
“I thought Zeke did a great job,” Trout said. “[I mean], they just took some great swings on him in big moments.”
After the back-to-back home runs off Wood, coach Trout made the call to the bullpen — sending in sophomore Saturday night starter Levi Wells to try and get through the inning. 
The first batter Wells faced, sophomore left fielder Eddie Park, knocked a single into left field on a full count. After a sacrifice bunt from junior shortstop Adam Crampton, junior centerfielder Brock Jones was intentionally walked. The Cardinal brought in freshman infielder Trevor Haskins, who had only seen six at-bats before the weekend, in to hit for pinch-hitting graduate transfer Joe Lomuscio. 
During Haskins’ at-bat, Wells threw a wild pitch, advancing both Park and Jones a base apiece. On a full count, Haskins singled into left field, bringing Park in from third to walk off the Bobcats for the Regional championship.
Bobcats Stivors and junior right fielder Jose Gonzalez earned All-Stanford Regional Honors, voted on by the media. On the weekend, Stivors gave up a single run in nine innings of play, allowing nine hits and struck out 14 batters. Gonzalez reached base 47.7 percent of the time while hitting three home runs in the Regional, all of which came against the Cardinal.
The record of 47-14 boasts the most wins in Texas State Baseball history.
The Bobcat’s season was one to remember and the members of the 2022 Texas State Baseball team will go down in history as one of, if not the, greatest team in Bobcat history.