The baseball team saw its season come to an end at the hands of the Troy University Trojans May 26 in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament.
The 2018 season proved to be a roller coaster of ups and downs for Texas State. The Bobcats started the season strong by defeating the Oklahoma State Cowboys. They went on to lose the series two games to one. However the competitiveness shown in the series proved to be a signature throughout the year.
Early in the season, the Bobcats scored several marquee victories, earning a NCAA national ranking of 30 after a home victory over Appalachian State.
Leading the Bobcats in batting average for the season was Jaylen Hubbard, junior infielder, with a .313. Hubbard led the team with 71 total hits, followed closely by Jonathan Ortega, junior infielder, who had 66 hits.
Derek Scheible, senior outfielder, made the most of his last season, leading in both runs scored (43) and home runs (12).
Luke Sherley, senior infielder, led the team in RBIs, racking up 43. Sherley cemented his legacy by appearing in 221 career games, the record for most appearances by any baseball player in Texas State’s history.
The senior class set the example for the team through the highs and lows. Their unwavering desire for success, no matter what the scoreboard read, is something Head Coach Ty Harrington looked at with great pride.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the senior class and the effort they put in this year,” Harrington said. “It was a bit up and down, but through it all, (the team) kept competing. I am very proud of them. I thought they did good for our program.”
For the coach, the effort of his players made up for what may be considered a mediocre record.
“Our expectations and desires were higher than that,” Harrington said. “But our guys still played hard through it all, even when they were fighting an uphill battle.”
With the end of the season comes the end of several collegiate careers. Hanging up the glove after this season are eight seniors on the team: Dylan Paul, Luke Sherley, Jared Huber, Derek Scheible, Mickey Scott, Travon Benton, Cam Baird and Skyler Valentine.
For Paul, the experiences and memories that came from the good and bad of this season and throughout his career are what he will cherish the most.
“I’m truly blessed to have been apart of this season,” Paul said. “We may have not accomplished some goals we had set for ourselves as a team, but the memories we made with each and every one of these guys is something that is truly irreplaceable.”